How Aspirin was Discovered, What Are the Benefits and Harm (Side Effects)?
4,000 years ago, the Sumerians made a surprising discovery. When they scraped and ate the bark of a certain kind of tree, their pain disappeared. They did not know that what they found would change the course of medical science in the future. What the Sumerians found was the pioneer of what is known today in medicine as aspirin. The active ingredient of aspirin is commonly found in willow and other wild plants, which explains how it is part of ancient medical traditions.
Discovery of aspirin
In 400 BC, Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine, recommended for the first time to chew willow bark to relieve pain and brew willow leaf tea to soothe pain after harvest. But it took us more than 2,000 years to investigate its potential.
In the middle of the 18th century, an English man named Edward Stone saw that after five years of experiments, the willow bark was able to cure fire when it was crushed to dust and eaten.
In 1828, German pharmacist Johann Butcher finally took about 70 years to identify and purify the so-called salicin component.
At that time, doctors routinely used other salicin-rich medicinal plants, such as willow bark and spirea, to alleviate pain, fever and inflammation. But the completion of the full component made it possible to modify the structure.
In 1853, the French chemist Charles Gerhardt was able to chemically synthesize the compound, thus forming the so-called aseltilsalicic acid.
Then in 1897, the pharmaceutical company Bayer found a new method. And he began to market the compound as a painkiller called aspirin. It was widely recognized as one of the first synthetic drugs.
Where does the aspirin come from?
In fact, aspirin was only Bayer's brand name: “A” comes from acetyl, “Spir erk comes from the spire of spiraeu ulmaria in botanical science.
As soon as aspirin became synonymous with acetylsalicic acid. As its reputation and fame increased, aspirin not only alleviated pain, but also alleviated many inflammation-related problems, articular inflammation, pericarditis where the membrane surrounding the heart was inflamed, and Kawasaki disease with blood vessels.
However, despite the medical value of aspirin, scientists still did not know how this effect actually made. Swedish and British scientists in the 1960s and 70s changed the situation. They have proven that this drug stops production of certain chemicals called prostaglandins. And they were responsible for transmitting the feeling of pain and inflammation. In 1982, this discovery won the Nobel Prize in medicine for its researchers.
What are the harm (side effects) of aspirin?
As time went by, research revealed the risks of aspirin. Excessive consumption can cause bleeding in the intestines and brain. It can also trigger Reye’s syndrome, a rare but often fatal disease that affects the brain and liver in children with infection.
What are the benefits of aspirin?
Towards the end of the 20th century, the success of aspirin was overshadowed by new painkillers with less side effects, such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen. In the 1980s, further discoveries about the benefits of aspirin increased interest in aspirin. In fact, researchers who won the 1982 Nobel Prize showed that aspirin also slowed down the production of clotting chemicals, platelets, which produce blood clots. A landmark clinical study showed that aspirin reduced the risk of heart attack in participants by 44%. Today, aspirin is recommended for patients at risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Because it reduces the possibility of clot formation in the vessels going to the brain and heart. Even more surprising is the increasing number of studies showing that aspirin reduces the risk of developing cancer and dying from cancer - especially colon cancer. This may be due to the anti-platelet effect of aspirin. By reducing platelet activity, aspirin may be lowering the level of protein that allows cancer cells to spread.
These discoveries have turned aspirin into a potentially life-saving treatment beyond just a painkiller. Today, we consume 100 billion tabler aspirin every year, and researchers continue to search for new uses. The versatility of aspirin has already transformed modern medicine. This is a terrific thing, given the humble history of a willow tree bark.
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