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Polypill Successfully Reduces Risk of Heart Disease

by Kathy Jones on May 26 2011 4:51 PM

 Polypill Successfully Reduces Risk of Heart Disease
A new study published in the journal PLoS One revealed that a combination of four commonly used drugs can go a long way in lowering cholesterol levels and reducing the risk of heart disease.
World Health Organisation and the Wellcome Trust conducted a global trial in various countries including UK, US, Australia, Brazil and India and found that combining four commonly used drugs, aspirin, two blood pressure drugs and a cholesterol drug, can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke by more than 50 percent.

The polypill has been widely researched in the past decade after Professors Sir Nicholas Wald and Malcolm Law authored an article stating that such a pill can reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 80 percent.

While the claim has proven to be too optimistic, the results of the trial show that such a pill could come in the market in the near future, providing some sort of protection against a number of diseases.

Lead researcher Professor Anthony Rodgers said that the presence of aspirin in the polypill means that they can be protection against a large number of diseases including cancer. “We know from other trials that long-term there would also be a 25-50 percent lower death rate from colon cancer, plus reductions in other major cancers, heart failure and renal failure”, he said.


Source-Medindia


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