Aspirin
We protect aspirin bottles in this country better than we protect guns from accidents by children - Gloria Estefan
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Hippocrates and willow bark? What you know about the history of aspirin is probably wrong
Aspirin is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Its main ingredient comes from a natural product, salicin, found in plants such as willow and myrtle. Aspirin is also a good example of how myths build up around ancient medicines. Its origins have been closely linked with Hippocrates, the famous ancient Greek doctor and so-called father of medicine. He’s said to have used willow for pain relief, inspiring the development of aspirin centuries later. But his writings barely mention willow. So why do we still believe the myth?
What’s all this about willow?
Practically every history of aspirin tells you Hippocrates prescribed willow to women in labour.…
Resources
Aspirin: Turn-of-the-Century Miracle Drug
Aspirin has had a long history as a pain reliever—2,000 years of history. But only in the 1970s did scientists begin to uncover its chemical secrets.
Take Two Aspirin—and a Serving of Kale
Wielding food as medicine, hospitals are focusing on nutrition, sending patients home with prescriptions as well as bags of good food.
Why Aspirin Is Incredible for Your Health
We're not saying it's a miracle drug, but it's as close as they come.
Women healers who were persecuted as witches left a rich legacy for modern medicine
Over the years, modern Western medicine has taken many remedies from all kinds of alternative forms of medicine, including witchcraft, according to Smithsonian. Witches used willow bark to treat inflammation; the compound used in aspirin today was developed based on a precursor chemical found in the willow tree.
Did You Take Your Aspirin Today?
How a struggling painkiller was reborn as a heart medicine and earned billions for Bayer.
How aspirin became a wonder drug against heart disease and cancer
WE HAVE known for a while there was something about the willow tree. Hippocrates, the “father of medicine”, recommended chewing willow bark as a remedy for pain and fever in the 5th century BC, as well as drinking tea brewed with it to relieve pain in childbirth. In 1763, the clergyman Edward Stone from Chipping Norton, UK, wrote a letter to the president of the Royal Society describing his experiments, which showed that powdered willow bark helped treat the “agues”, or fevers, of people living in damp areas. Willow bark, it turns out, is a rich...
How Aspirin Works Its Magic
In 1982, the British chemist Sir John Vane shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in part for figuring out how aspirin worked, but some researchers now think that his work may have been only a good beginning.
Millions take aspirin to prevent heart disease and cancer. Turns out that’s risky
A study found there were no benefits for healthy elderly adults in taking aspirin daily, and lots of potential risks.
Hippocrates and willow bark? What you know about the history of aspirin is probably wrong
Aspirin is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Its main ingredient comes from a natural product, salicin, found in plants such as willow and myrtle. Aspirin is also a good example of how myths build up around ancient medicines. Its origins have been closely linked with Hippocrates, the famous ancient Greek doctor and so-called father of medicine. He’s said to have used willow for pain relief, inspiring the development of aspirin centuries later. But his writings barely mention willow. So why do we still believe the myth?
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