ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — If you have been taking an aspirin once a day to help ward off that first possible heart attack or stroke, be aware that common recommendation has now been changed. The new guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology say otherwise healthy people should stop doing it -- because the risk of bleeding is too high. "Even though it did prevent some heart attacks, the risk for bleeding internally was much higher and it kind of negated any positive effect," said SLU Care internal medicine specialist Dr. Fred Buckhold, the new interim chief medical officer at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital. "There weren't enough positive events to warrant recommending doing this anymore." So what will he tell his patients now? "Generally, I tell them unless they're really at high risk not to take an aspirin for what we call primary prevention," said Dr. Buckhold. "That means if they've never had a heart attack or stroke, generally if their risk isn't very high, I would recommend not taking it anyway. Where it's changed for me now is if their risk was high and they never had a heart attack or stroke, with this new data, I would not suggest it, particularly for older people above the age of 70. It seems the risks there may be much higher than the benefit of preventing a heart attack and that's really what the American College of Cardiology said at its meeting this week." And if you are already taking a daily aspirin, Dr. Buckhold says don't just stop without talking to your doctor first."For most of my patients, I try to be a minimalist," said Dr. Buckhold. "I try to take them off medicines that I know don't have a clear benefit. So I think if you are on it, I'd at least seriously consider stopping it -- but again, that's a discussion to have with your own physician."Heart experts say living a healthy lifestyle is the best way to prevent cardiovascular disease -- that means getting plenty of exercise, a healthy diet, weight control and no tobacco in any form -- including vaping.