Avoid selenium if you already have prostate cancer

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute the University of California, San Francisco concluded that an intake of selenium could worsen the conditions of people who are already suffering from prostate cancer, and have a variant of a gene called superoxide dismutase (SOD2). Theyhave observed a higher risk of more-aggressive prostate cancer in men with SOD2 genetic variant, found in about 75 percent of the prostate cancer patients in the study.

In such men, having a high level of selenium in the blood was linked with a two-fold greater risk of poorer outcomes than men with the lowest amounts of selenium.

On the other hand, the 25 percent of men with a different variant of the same gene, and who had high selenium levels, were at 40 percent lower risk of aggressive disease.

The new study reveals the strong interaction between selenium and SOD2 to influence the biology of prostate cancer-a finding that has earlier been shown.

The authors said that the current research demonstrated that variations in the make up of the SOD2 gene dramatically alter the effects of selenium on the risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

On the other hand, data from a Canadian research group at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Ontario, continue to suggest that specific combinations of micronutrients (selenium, vitamin E, and lycopene, when all used together) can have an impact on the prevention and progression of prostate cancer.