What is selenium? Why study it for prostate cancer prevention?
Our bodies need selenium, a nonmetallic trace element that we get from food—especially plant foods like rice and wheat, seafood, meat, and Brazil nuts. Selenium is an antioxidant that might help control cell damage that can lead to cancer. The Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial, published in 1996, included 1,312 men and women who had skin cancer. Men who took selenium to prevent nonmelanoma skin cancer received no benefit from selenium in preventing skin cancer. However, men who had taken selenium for 6½ years had approximately 60 percent fewer new cases of prostate cancer than men who took the placebo (2). In 2002, study data showed that men who took selenium for more than 7½ years had about 52 percent fewer new cases of prostate cancer than men who took the placebo (3). This study is one of the reasons selenium is being studied in SELECT. (See Question 11 for more information about selenium.) 4.What is vitamin E? Why study it for prostate cancer prevention? We get vitamin E in a
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- What is selenium? Why study it for prostate cancer prevention?
