Question: Bayer commercials suggest taking an aspirin a day to keep heart attack and stroke away. Should I?
Shane’s answer:
Contrary to popular belief, Bayer did not "invent" aspirin. Mother Nature did. Thousands of years ago, humans witnessed injured bears gnawing on the bark of white willow trees. After drinking a tea from the bark, these early “chemists” found that their pain was gone.
Around 200 B.C, Greek physician Hippocrates prescribed willow bark to his patients to reduce pain and fever. Eventually, Big Pharma got its hands into the mix, which laid the groundwork for the eventual synthesis of a molecule known as salicin – one of many ingredients found in white willow bark.
Big Pharma, which could not market salicin as its own because it is a natural ingredient, altered it a bit. Chemist Carl R. Gerhardt was the first to do so in 1853 by synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (ASA). Bayer trademarked the drug as aspirin in 1889, and it is now used in place of white willow bark. But it isn’t nearly as safe. The small molecular change made for big dangers.
Aspirin depletes the body of life-saving nutrients (including folic acid, iron, potassium, sodium, and vitamin C), which can lead to anemia, birth defects, elevated homocysteine (a risk factor for heart disease), headache, depression, fatigue, hair loss, insomnia, diarrhea, shortness of breath, pale skin, suppression of the immune system, and even internal bleeding or death. The side effects are so severe that they can cause a higher death rate relative to those populations who do not take it.
The best way to avoid heart attack and stroke is by abstaining from excess sugar. And if you want a healthier alternative to aspirin, simply use white willow bark tea.
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