SARASOTA – A new study suggests a baby aspirin a day will keep breast cancer at bay, but before you reach for the bottle, not all oncologists are on board.


After following about 57-thousand women for 7 years, the California Teacher’s Study found baby aspirin reduces the risk of breast cancer, but don’t get excited just yet.


Oncologist Steve Mamus is not impressed. He says there are two previous studies that contradict this one. “The Nurse’s Study and also the Health Care Professionals Follow-up study, and they had about three times the number of patients that were just recently reported,” says Mamus.


These studies followed people for 30 years. “They found that the incidence of colorectal cancer and gastrointestinal cancer appeared to be decreased probably by 15-20 percent,” says Mamus. “They found no decrease in the incidence or the risk of getting either breast cancer, prostate cancer, or lung cancer, which are among the most common cancers found in the United States.”


Mamus says the problem with this new study is the small number of patients, small follow up, and unusual criteria. “Excluding younger women and also excluding women who were not Caucasian,” he says.


Mamus won’t be prescribing baby aspirin to his patients, but he will encourage them to maintain a healthy weight, and even have a baby or two. “Pregnancy, especially earlier in life and multiple pregnancies appears to decrease the risk of breast cancer,” he explains.


Beware of hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Mamus says Prempro has been proven to increase the risk of breast cancer in post–menopausal women after three years of use.