Doctors have agreed, for about a generation, that an aspirin a day is good for you… But at what age should you start?

…The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel convened by the Department of Health and Human Services, has published guidelines it says should end the confusion.

The key points: Men should start a daily aspirin at age 45, mainly to protect against heart attacks.

Women should start at 55, mainly to protect against stroke.

For both sexes, a baby aspirin – typically 81 milligrams a day – will do the job. There is no evidence that a larger dose makes a difference.

the lowest price i find for generic, chewable, 81-mg aspirin is $0.99 for 36 tabs, about $10/year – a hundred dollars for ten years.

meanwhile, in Stroke magazine, by the american heart association, a first stroke costs on average $28,253 (range: $7,309 – $146,149).

where does aspirin come from? willow trees.

“Hippocrates of Cos (460-377 B.C.) noted that chewing leaves of willow (Salix) reduced pain… Subsequent ancient Greek physicians recommended willow for alleviating pain and reducing fever and inflammation. In North America, probably even before the Greeks, the Alabama, Chickasaw, and Montagnai Indians used willow… In the 1820s, European chemists, eagerly studying the chemistry of plants, were able to isolate from willow a glycoside, which was named salicin… Karl Löwig (1839) treated salicin with acid – as salicin is acted on in the human stomach – to make salicylic acid… A different compound was synthesized in 1853 by Carl von Gerhardt by putting an acetyl group on salicylic acid, making acetylsalicylic acid, which is a chemical salt (solid).”

there are salicylates in lots of stuff:

Salicylate Content of Common Foods (excerpted)
(in milligrams per 100 grams [three-and-a-half ounces, or about half a cup])

that’s around 10mg salicylate per teaspoon of curry, paprika, and thyme – about 2 mg/tsp for cumin.

for the kitchen chemists in the crowd, here’s a recipe from Argonne Lab:

Q: I am interested in extracting salicin from willow bark and preparing aspirin from the extract… Please help me if you can.

A: I suggest boiling the bark in plain old hot water, i.e., making tea… I’m no organic chemist but I’d reduce the volume by evaporation, then put it into a sep funnel with a relatively safe organic solvent, and try to isolate the acetic acid by crystallization/recrystallization.

the reason we take baby aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes is that it “thins the blood” by making platelets less sticky. the salicylates in willow bark (and other plants) only have a weak effect on platelets. adding the acetic acid is what gives aspirin a stronger effect.

so can you make your own blood-thinner by soaking willow bark in vinegar? probably… but you won’t know how much you’re getting, and it might not be any cheaper. if you buy it, willow bark costs about $15/pound. aspirin is a fairly natural medicine… although of course aspirin factories aren’t very healthy for the natural environment…

so, anyway, am i going to tell you to take a baby aspirin a day, if you’re over 45/55 with no stomach problems? yup.

i’m just saying.