Staying Healthy
Selenium and vitamin E raise risk of prostate cancer
Taking extra vitamin E or selenium every day can raise the risk of prostate cancer, according to a study published online February 22 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The findings confirm what researchers have suspected since the first results emerged in 2008 from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial
(SELECT). Researchers halted SELECT early after finding no evidence that taking a daily supplement—with 200 micrograms (mcg) of selenium, 400 international units (IU) of vitamin E, or both—reduced the risk of prostate cancer. The early results also suggested that taking vitamin E increased the chance of prostate cancer by 17%.
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