The Perfect Pill

Good Morning Athletes and Warriors! The following guest article holds truth backed by science. However there is a new discovery in the Superfood SOUL that has changed the game of pain, inflammation, disease and more. Nothing wrong with using Aspirin as described, but please read with the understanding that there is more available in nature backed by science. Click here to learn more about SOUL and read on! -Nate The Perfect Pill How the humble aspirin came to be so hallowed  It can halt a heart attack and stop a stroke. It may prevent certain types of cancer. Down two tablets after a foolish game of tackle football, and you'll probably be able to get out of bed in the morning. Although the active chemical in aspirin, salicylic acid, has been in use since Homer wrote The Iliad, the familiar white stuff has been around for only a little more than 100 years, ever since the German chemist Felix Hoffmann synthesized the substance into acetylsalicylic acid, to help ease his father's arthritis pain. When he saw that the drug also relieved headaches and reduced fevers, Hoffmann passed the word along to his boss, Friedrich Bayer, who soon started selling "aspirin," first as a powder, then as a pill. "Aspirin is as close to a wonder drug as you'll find in medicine today, but you'd never know it," says Dr. Charles Hennekens, a visiting professor of epidemiology at the University of Miami in Florida and one of the country's foremost aspirin researchers. "For the longest time, no one took it seriously because it was so common. My colleagues and I used to say that if aspirin were a prescription drug, cost twice as much, and were half as effective, it probably would have gotten more respect." Now, however, aspirin is getting its due. New research has identified a wealth of health benefits you can reap for a bit more than a penny per pill. Some of the ailments aspirin affects: ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE Preliminary studies on the elderly suggest that those who took aspirin regularly (four times a week or more) "have lower rates of cognitive loss and dementia," says Hennekens.ARTHRITIS Aspirin's famed anti-inflammatory properties shrink joints and tissue swollen by osteoarthritis or the more painful rheumatoid arthritis.CANCER Research has shown aspirin to inhibit the production of prostaglandins, hormone-like fatty acids that scientists believe may play a role in tumor growth. A long-term study of 90,000 nurses in the United States between 1976 and 1995 showed that those who took four to six aspirins a week were less likely to develop colorectal cancer than those who took fewer. Other research suggests that taking a standard 325-milligram aspirin tablet daily may lower your risk of dying from colorectal cancer by up to 50 percent. Also, preliminary findings associate aspirin use with reducing the risk of esophageal cancer by as much as 90 percent. FLU Aspirin is a tried-and-true fever reducer. What's not well known is that the drug can slow the development of all flu symptoms, especially achiness. "We're finding now that aspirin may have some important immune-boosting properties," says Hennekens.GALLSTONES Research done at India's Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences has shown that taking 350 milligrams of aspirin daily can improve gallbladder function and impede stone formation in people with gallstone disease. HEADACHE/MUSCLE ACHE Tension and migraine headaches and muscle injuries trigger the release of prostaglandins, which cause inflammation. Aspirin eases pain by blocking the production of these substances. HEART ATTACK AND STROKE Since the 1970s, doctors have known that aspirin can shrink inflamed blood vessels and act as an anticoagulant to help prevent the blood clots that trigger most heart attacks and strokes. If you have a history of coronary disease, the American Heart Association suggests you take an aspirin a day to ward off a heart attack (talk to your doctor first). Although no medical organization recommends that healthy people take aspirin as insurance against cardiac problems, there's good reason to think that such advice may be coming soon: In the U.S. Physicians Health Study, an ongoing survey of 22,000 male doctors, Harvard University researchers found that respondents who took an aspirin tablet daily reduced their risk of ever having a heart attack by 44 percent. Aspirin can even help save your life if a heart attack is in progress: At the first signs -- dizziness, shortness of breath, pain or heaviness in the chest, or pain that radiates to your neck or arms -- chew and swallow a regular aspirin tablet. Chewing the pill first helps speed the medication's absorption into your bloodstream, where it may stop a clot from forming or even help break up an existing one, says Hennekens. If you are unable to swallow, putting an aspirin under your tongue will have the same effect. By: Stephen C. George