The Recipe Doctor
From low-fat recipes to recipes designed for persons with diabetes, Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, shares recipes and advice to create healthy meals that are guaranteed to please. [Editor's note: Elaine no longer contributes to Silver Planet, but we have made her archived blog entries available as a service to our readers.]
Selenium in Your Supplement?
On second thought . . .
For most men with prostate cancer, the dietary supplement selenium may actually promote more aggressive cases of the disease, according to a new study, Serum Selenium Concentrations and Hypertension in the US Population.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) recently filed a formal complaint with the FDA over the various prostate claims on Bayer’s One A Day labeling.
CSPI even calls Bayer’s more general claim that selenium “supports prostate health” deceptive. On June 19, the FDA authorized a “qualified health claim” for selenium supplements and prostate cancer, and it’s not exactly an endorsement:
| Two weak studies suggest that selenium intake may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. However, four stronger studies and three weak studies showed no reduction in risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly unlikely that selenium supplements reduce the risk of prostate cancer. |
And the studies keep coming. . . . I’ve always been more about nutrient-rich foods rather than vitamin and mineral pills and potions. There is just too much synergy within foods to justify completely taking vitamins and minerals in pill form. For example, the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) actually ended early when researchers discovered that besides not preventing prostate cancer, selenium supplements might have been causing diabetes in the men assigned to take it.
Here are the results from two more studies on selenium:
- In a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers found more aggressive cases of prostate cancer in men with high blood levels of selenium and the V genotype for an antioxidant enzyme found in most cells (75% of men have this genotype). The findings “indicate caution against broad use of selenium supplementation for men with prostate cancer.”
- In another study, researchers found that men with higher blood levels of selenium were more likely to have hypertension than were men with lower blood selenium levels.
By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
The Recipe Doctor Blog
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