5 facts about aspirin - a medicine that is familiar to everyone
Miscellaneous / / November 24, 2023
How the world's most popular pill is linked to willow bark and who actually invented it.
1. It is one of the most popular medicines in the world
Aspirin is a true panacea, a “pill for everything”, known for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. His apply to reduce temperature, relieve pain (headache, toothache, back, joints), treat fever, arthritis, rheumatism and many other diseases.
Studies show low doses of aspirin reduce the chance of dying from heart disease attack and risk of development stroke. There are also indirect proofthat this medicine is effective in preventing cancer rectum - although scientists don't fully understand how it works.
Annually produced 40,000 tons of aspirin each. And in the United States alone, more than 50 million people regularly take 10 to 20 billion of these pills. So this is one of the most common in the world of drugs throughout the history of medicine.
2. This medicine is many thousands of years old
What is commonly referred to as aspirin in everyday speech is actually a compound called acetylsalicylic acid.
And potions made from willow and other plants rich in salicylates, known since ancient times. They are described on clay tablets of the ancient Sumerians and in the ancient Egyptian medical papyrus of Ebers, created around 1550 BC. e. Hippocrates around 400 BC. e. mentioned the use of salicylic tea to relieve fever. Willow bark extract has also been used in medieval medicine.
True, the latter also had a serious side effect: it caused severe abdominal pain and nausea, because salicylic acid irritated the stomach.
3. The Wrong Man Became the Inventor of Aspirin
For a long time it was believed that for the first time samples of acetylsalicylic acid in a form suitable for medical use synthesized On August 10, 1897, German chemist Felix Hoffmann. He worked in the Bayer laboratory in the German city of Elberfeld.
According to legend, research on acetylsalicylic acid by Hoffman got busyto find a cure rheumatism for his father. He complained about the bitter taste of sodium salicylate - at that time the only medicine that could relieve joint pain. The fact is that large doses of this substance (6–8 g) in the treatment of arthritis led to irritation of the gastric mucosa, causing severe pain and discomfort in patients.
So supposedly filial love became the reason for the discovery of a medicine that saved pain entire generations of humanity. However, later evidence emerged that the main credit for the discovery of chemically pure and stable salicylic acid by acetylation belonged to another Bayer employee, Arthur Eichengrün. He was Hoffman's supervisor.
But the company delicately kept silent about his contribution to the creation of the medicine, so as not to upset the National Socialist Party that came to power in Germany in 1933: Arthur was a Jew.
Eichengrün ended up in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. And only in 1949 published in the journal Pharmazie, an article in which he described how, on his instructions, Hoffman synthesized acetylsalicylic acid. Moreover, the latter did not even know the purpose of his work.
4. Aspirin was named after a plant
Salicylic acid, from which it was later derived aspirin, got its name in honor of the willow - in Latin this tree is called Salix. AND Name This compound was given to the German chemist Johann Andreas Büchner, who isolated it in 1828.
The popular brand "Aspirin" created German company Bayer. This word is based on the name of another plant - meadowsweet. In Latin - Spiraea ulmaria. Salicylic acid was also obtained from it. The four letters spir have an a added to them to emphasize the acid acetylation reaction. And the end of the word in was added simply for euphony.
5. Aspirin is not as harmless as you think
Aspirin is considered to be a fairly common and safe medicine. No wonder it is sold without a prescription. But in fact, this drug can cause serious harm if taken without consulting a doctor.
Thus, aspirin can lead to gastrointestinal bleeding, even despite the special coating of the tablets designed to reduce harm. Logical: salicylic acid irritates mucous membranes.
In addition, according to data According to the University at Buffalo, high doses of aspirin (8 to 12 tablets per day) may cause noise and ringing in the ears, because salicylic acid can damage inner ear.
Finally, this medicine may sometimes cause a rare but very dangerous Reye's syndrome, or white liver disease. It is characterized by swelling of the brain and rapid accumulation of fat in the liver and leads to coma and even death of the patient.
Reye's syndrome developswhen fevers of viral origin - influenza, measles, chickenpox - in children they try to treat with large doses of aspirin. Therefore, patients under 16 years of age should be given acetylsalicylic acid. it is forbidden.
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