Aspirin's fat burning mechanism found

Thu, 26th April 2012

It may be great for curing a splitting headache, but scientists have now discovered that aspirin also activates an enzyme that burns fat, a finding that could unlock its cancer fighting properties, according to a new study.

Previous research has shown that once ingested, aspirin breaks down into salicylate, a compound derived from plants such as willow bark, and used as a drug for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians recorded the medicinal use of willow bark in their manuscripts. In the 1890s, pharmaceutics developed a modified form of salicylate to make it less irritating to the stomach - creating the drug aspirin.

ABC online has the story.