According to a new study, taking an aspirin daily helps reduce the risk of stomach, oesophageal or colorectal cancer in the following decades by about 40 per cent.

The researchers said that the healthy people who ate aspirin everyday also had a 12 per cent lower risk of dying from other cancers. They said that they people had 16 per cent lower risk of cancer than those who do not take aspirin every day.

The researchers from the American Cancer Society studied a total of 100,000 healthy people and found that the drug can be used as a protective measure. Aspirin has been found to raise the risk of internal bleeding and stomach ulcers, as well as certain kinds of stroke. According to the experts the risk is worth for people at high risk of contracting the virus.

"Even a relatively modest benefit with respect to overall cancer mortality could still meaningfully influence the balances of risks and benefits of prophylactic (protective) aspirin use," the researchers said.

They also found that there was no difference between patients who took Aspirin everyday for five years and those who took the drug every day for longer time. The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.