Aspirin is in the news today because, in addition to relieving pain and preventing heart attacks the common, over-the-counter tablet may also help reduce a woman’s risk for melanoma the most dangerous type of skin cancer.

Researchers have found that post-menopausal women  who used aspirin two or more times a week had a 21 percent lower risk of developing melanoma than women who did not take the pain reliever.

Study author  Dr. Jean Tang says the findings also showed that the longer the women take aspirin the greater the protection it offered against this type of skin cancer.

Scientists evaluated the use of pain relievers in nearly 60,000 post-menopausal women ages 50 to 79.

The study is available online today in the journal Cancer.