New cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines jointly submitted by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association were published in the Journal of the American College in March 2019, reversing decades of medical advice to take low-dose “baby” aspirin as a routine preventive against stroke or heart attack. Studies showing that aspirin’s toxic effects (including ulcers, brain bleeding, Chrohn’s disease) clearly outweighed the benefits, were key to the policy reversal. The toxic effects of synthesized aspirin are not shared with its natural precursor white willow bark, a natural analgesic.
Health InSyncs 