Many people take aspirin or vitamin E daily to reduce the risk of heart disease and other health-related problems.

But a new study suggests that women may not be getting the benefits they expected.

Nearly 40,000 women took part in the study. Sandra Delaney is one of them.

For the last 10 years, Delaney has taken 100 milligrams of aspirin per day and then vitamin E the following day.

"My own physician was recommending that I be on a low dose of aspirin anyway," said Delaney.

Aspirin has been shown to help prevent heart disease, but researchers wanted to know if taking aspirin and vitamin E could also prevent cancer.

"In the women's health study, we found that vitamin E supplementation had no overall benefit in terms of preventing heart disease and cancer in healthy women," said Dr. I-Min Lee of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Nancy Cook, also of the Brigham and Women's Hospital said, "overall, we found no protective benefit of aspirin on cancer in general."

The study took place over a five-year period, according to researchers.

The researchers found that aspirin had no observed effect on total cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer or cancer of any other site, with the exception of lung cancer, according to JAMA. The study showed that there was a trend toward reduction of lung cancer by about 22 percent.

There was also no reduction in cancer death either overall or in a specific site, except for lung cancer death, which was observed to drop about 30 percent, according to JAMA.

In the study, 19,934 women received a dose of 100 milligrams of aspirin daily and 19,942 women received placebo.

In the component of the study that focused on vitamin E consumption, 39,876 healthy women from the United States that were at least 45 years old were randomly assigned to receive 600 IU of natural-source vitamin E on alternate days, or a placebo pill, according to JAMA. The women's dosage was followed for an average of 10.1 years.

The study showed there was no significant effect on major cardiovascular events, on incidences of heart attack or stroke, or on ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke.

Cardiovascular death, however, was reduced by 24 percent. There was no significant impact on total cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, or colon cancer, according to JAMA.

Delaney said she will continue to take both the low-dose aspirin and the vitamin E.

"I think they could have helped my health, because I've been healthy," said Delaney.

The researchers of the study said it would be much easier to just take a pill, but the best medicine is to lead a healthy lifestyle, not smoke, eat right and exercise.

Experts stress that low-dose aspirin is still beneficial for lowering women's risk of heart disease.

Experts say anyone considering an aspirin or vitamin E treatment should consult a doctor before starting the regimen.