Cancer will kill almost no one under the age of 80 by 2050 due to continued advances preventing and treating the disease, a major study suggests.

The research by University College London was published as experts said that a daily low-dose aspirin is the single most effective action to protect against cancer.

Prof Jack Cuzick, who leads research into disease prevention, urged GPs to do more to ensure patients were given advice to take “baby aspirin” for a decade between the age of 50 and 65. He cited research showing that such action reduces the chance of cancer, heart attacks and strokes by between seven and nine per cent, in 15 years and cut overall death rates by four per cent in two decades.

The new study by University College London suggests that on current trends, by 2050, cancer will rarely kill anyone under the age of 80.

Dramatic improvement in cancer death rates in the UK in the last 20 years mean that half of those who die from the disease are over the age of 75, researchers said.

Prof Cuzick, director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, said not smoking and not putting on too much weight were both effective ways to reduce the chance of cancer – but he said taking a daily 75mg aspirin was the best positive step to lower their risk of the disease.