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Show 1 BY RICK KINNEHSLEY, PRESIDENT Aspirin: The Miracle Drug It apparently started in the '50's. ' The recognition re-cognition that aspirin was more than a minor pain remedy extracted from the leaves and bark of the willow tree. Suddenly, scientists began to find S that circulatory problems among aspirin users were much less pronounced than among those non- ? users. The discovery came in 1956 according to Walter S. Ross in a recent Reader's Digest article. Dr. Lawrence L. Craven ijrij tad experimented with aspirin use among a group Jl of overweight, inactive men whom he assumed were prime candidates for jf! neart disease. He pre scribed two aspirins a day and none had heart attacks. He increased his S; sample to 8,000 men of the same category and reported report-ed that not a single case of coronary or cerebral thrombosis, and not a r single stroke, had occurred among the sample for over 10 years. ( pr. Craven was largely ignored for nearly 20 years until a British surgeon. Dr. John Vane discovered asPrin stopped blood c'otting among his transplant patients. Studies then escalated testing aspirin in numerous categories with as many as 10,000 sample Patients. Here are some of the results: Patients given one aspirin three times a ! day after coronaries f( j suffered 22 percent 3) ,, HHMWi UTAH HOS '1 fewer deaths from heart disease than those who did not take aspirin. Aspirin prevented 20 percent of second heart attacks in groups tested for all types of heart malfunction. Perhaps the most interesting thing about aspirin is its minimal side affects. They do exist, however, and most researchers conclude that had they been discovered when Dr. Bayer first put the product on the market, in the 1800's, aspirin would be a prescription drug, today under very close scrutiny. If this were the case the many discoveries associated with aspirin would not have been made and the miracle nature of this common drug would have been overlooked. The final advice for those contemplating a regular diet of aspirin is contained in the warning given by Drs. Herschel R. Harter and Philip VV. Majerus. Half an aspirin a day is about all that's necessary for most people and more than six a day can lead to some disfunction dis-function of normal body mechanisms. A talk with a good doctor would be the wisest course, because, last of all there is a warning on the bottle that says, "In case of overdose contact a physician." Aspirin is a drug and must be used properly. PITAL ASSOCIATION t |