BOSTON (AP)—People have taken aspirin since ancient times, but the ubiquitous white tablet has become a glamour drug of modern medicine, good for a growing list of seemingly unrelated ills.

“It’s an absolutely amazing drug,” says Harold J. DeMonaco, director of pharmacy at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Impressive enough are its best-known attributes—aspirin’s power to ease pain, lower fever and relieve inflammation. But that’s just the beginning.

In its latest and perhaps most dramatic incarnation, aspirin turns out to be a potent weapon against heart attacks. A study published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine shows that healthy men who take aspirin every other day can cut their risk of heart attack almost in half.

“Anyone practicing medicine has always been amazed at how utilitarian aspirin is and how widely it has been used for many different purposes,” said Dr. Lawrence Cohen of Yale Medical School.

If aspirin is a miracle drug, as the people who make it like to say, then it’s a miracle that’s already widely experienced. The Aspirin Foundation, a trade organization, says Americans take more than 80 million aspirin tablets a day.

It’s also a miracle with drawbacks.

Aspirin makes the blood less likely to form clots, or thrombosis. This is how it prevents heart attacks. But at the same time, this increases the chances of unwanted bleeding.

“Aspirin is a major cause of bleeding in our society,” says Dr. Daniel Deyken of Boston University Medical School. “Thrombosis is an even larger cause of grief, but you can’t get away scot-free.”

Studies have shown that one dose of aspirin can make a person’s stomach release up to a teaspoon of blood. People with active ulcers are usually urged to avoid aspirin.

Aspirin also can cause stomach upsets. Prolonged, heavy doses can interfere with kidney function. Use in children with fevers has been linked with a rare illness called Reye’s Syndrome.

For these reasons, experts caution that people should consult their physicians before taking aspirin day after day to prevent heart attacks.

Because aspirin is so common, many people don’t take it seriously, said Dr. Arthur Jacknowitz of West Virginia University’s School of Pharmacy.

“Aspirin has gotten a bad rap,” he said. “It’s an old drug. Worse than that, it’s an old, inexpensive drug. Inexpensive drugs are not supposed to work. You’re supposed to spend a lot of money to have a drug that’s a pretty color and comes in a nice container.”