Mineral:Selenium and prostate cancer

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Scientists don’t fully understand how selenium functions in the body, but one important role is its antioxidant activity. As a result, doctors have wondered if it might help fight atherosclerosis. Indeed, a 1991 study of Finnish men linked low selenium levels to atherosclerosis of the carotid artery. But in 1995, the Harvard Physicians’ Health Study cast considerable doubt on the hypothesis that selenium protects the heart. In fact, a 2006 study reported that taking selenium supplements had no effect on cardiovascular disease.

Researchers are now concentrating on selenium and cancer. The first glimmers came from the observation that cancer is less common in parts of the world that have high levels of selenium in the soil. Experiments in test tubes and laboratory animals followed, but a 1996 publication really put selenium on the map.

The Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial

To learn if selenium supplements might reduce the risk of recurrent skin cancer, a team of scientists working at seven American health centers gave either 200 micrograms of selenium or a placebo to 1,312 volunteers with an average age of 63. When the results were analyzed in 1996, the researchers were disappointed to learn that there was no difference in the occurrence of skin cancer in the two groups, but they were startled to find that selenium was linked to a significant reduction in deaths from lung, colon, esophageal, and prostate cancer; protection appeared strongest for prostate cancer, with 63% fewer deaths in the men who took selenium. These results were greeted with great interest but also with caution; most doctors stressed the need for further research.

The Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial has issued two subsequent reports. The initial hopes that selenium might reduce the incidence of lung and colorectal cancer did not hold up. But the men who received selenium continued to enjoy a 49% lower risk of prostate cancer through a follow-up period that averaged 7.6 years ...Read more 

From Oli G

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