New bowel cancer pill hope

A study is being carried out by Leeds University which is looking into ways to prevent bowel cancer.

The study involves looking at the effect of pills made of aspirin and fish oil.

Trial lead, Leeds University's Professor Mark Hull, said: "A major advantage of EPA and aspirin is that they are both safe, have few side effects and they are already used widely by people who have heart disease or who have had a stroke,"

"Other drugs that have been shown to prevent bowel polyps have been linked to an increase in heart attacks, so they are unsuitable for widespread use.

"If this treatment is shown to be safe and effective, then in future it could be given to more patients who have been found to have these pre-cancerous bowel polyps and are at risk of developing others in the future."