If you are over 30, you probably have taken aspirin more times in your life than you could ever recall! It has been a basic medicine in our lives since its inception. Who cant recall those little pills that dissolved on your tongue and leave that distinctive baby aspirin taste in your mouth? Over the years, aspirin has been used for everything from bringing fever down in a baby to helping grandma manage the aches and pains of aging joints. Now, even with so many other alternatives, aspirin remains one of the most widely used products in the world. In fact, the use of aspirin is making a comeback due primarily to research that has demonstrated aspirin is an effective blood thinner, and can help reduce your risk of a heart attack, or even help save your life if taken during a heart attack.

But there are risks to taking aspirin. The one everyone knows about, is the risk of stomach problems. This GI risk actually applies to all of the NSAIDS such as aspirin. Aspirin leads to irritation of the lining of your gastrointestinal tract and may result in pain and/or bleeding. Due to the marketing efforts of competitors of aspirin, primarily acetaminophen, better known as Tylenol, the GI side effects are actually one of the most well known among consumers and doctors alike.

But one of the lesser known side effects of aspirin is how it depletes your body of some of its essential nutrients. Over time, as you use aspirin daily, as many people do now for not only their aches and pains but for their cardiovascular health, the risk that aspirin is depleting your bodys nutrients increases.

Although not well known among physicians or the general public, aspirin is just one of many medications, both over the counter and prescription that can end up depleting your body of its vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients. Even the stomach protecting medicines like Prilosec or Prevacid that many people take along with their aspirin have well documented nutrient depleting side effects.

While stopping your medications is not a smart option, taking a supplement to be sure you maintain your optimal nutritional status is. You would want to be sure you were taking vitamin and mineral supplements for each of the important nutrients aspirin can deplete. That includes folate, potassium, and vitamin C. You would also want to be sure you are getting the nutrients in a form that is readily bioavailable and at high enough doses to counter the nutrient depleting side effects of your aspirin.

Don Ford, M.D.

C. Donald Ford, MD, Diplomate of the American Board Internal Medicine. Dr. Ford has practiced general internal medicine for the past 22 years. He is a native Texan and trained at Baylor University, the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and Scott and White in Temple. He is a Clinical Assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine. In addition to general Internal Medicine, his practice includes travel medicine, vascular disease prevention, and Integrative Medicine with nutrients. He has been interested in the body’s ability to heal itself since medical school, and has used nutrients throughout his career to help patients use less prescription medication, or avoid it altogether.While he sees the tremendous value prescription medications can provide, he is also aware of the value and place for nutrients.