.jpg "Aspirin tablets")
Natural drug: Our bodies produce the key ingredient of aspirin quite naturally, new research has found.
Credit: Chaval Brasil
LONDON: Salicylic acid, the active ingredient of cure-all drug aspirin, could be produced naturally by the human body, researchers say.
Formed when aspirin is broken down in the body, salicylic acid is responsible for most of the drug's effects, including relief from pain and inflammation.
But when popping an aspirin for a headache, we may actually be topping up our own natural supplies of the protective chemical, said study author Gwendoline Baxter, a research scientist for the U.K. National Health Service in Dumfries, Scotland.
Baxter's research was published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Salicylic cycle
Scientists have long known that salicylic acid circulates in our bodies, even when we're not taking aspirin. Since the chemical acts as a stress hormone in plants, it has been thought we get our fix by eating fruit and vegetables - and indeed, vegetarians have higher levels of the chemical in their blood.
Spices are also rich in salicylic acid, with people who eat curry-heavy diets also having high levels: "In fact, we found that a vindaloo was as good as a low dose of aspirin," said Baxter.
However, the research team wanted to find out what happened if people were cut off from natural sources of salicylic acid.
Fast evidence
To do this, they looked at levels of the chemical in two groups of people on fasting diets: 'nil by mouth' patients who were about to undergo major bowel surgery, and volunteers who stuck to a milk and water diet for three days.
In both cases, salicylic acid levels dropped, but never reached zero, said Baxter, suggesting that the chemical was being produced in the body.
The researchers went on to suggest we may be able to manufacture the chemical from benzoic acid, a substance that itself is produced in the body via many chemical pathways.
Stress defence
Given the role of salicylic acid as a stress hormone in plants (where it works as a trigger to up defences if the plant is in danger), Baxter now plans to investigate if the chemical has a similar role in humans.
Tentative evidence is there - preliminary results show that the chemical may carry out its protective effects by activating the immune system.
Janice Drew, a molecular biologist from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, who was not involved in the study, called the results so far "intriguing".
However, she stressed that further study will be needed to analyse the salicylic acid produced by the body. It will be of key importance to see if the body's natural chemical in fact has has similar effects to taking an aspirin tablet, she said.
