Selenium May Protect Against Prostate Cancer

A team of researchers from Harvard Medical school analyzed data from 1163 men who had participated in the Physician's Health Study. Before starting the study, the participants had been cancer-free and had their blood tested for selenium. Initial selenium levels of 586 men who later developed prostate cancer were compared with the initial selenium level of 577 men who did not develop the disease. The researchers found that men with higher selenium levels were less likely to develop prostate cancer. Ongoing randomized trials of selenium supplementation may help to further evaluate its role in prostate cancer risk.