Selenium vs. prostate cancer

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Hi All,

Selenium may protect us from prostate cancer. That eleven cohort studies were

used

(1) may speak well, in lieu of the randomized control study results (2).

The pdfs are available for the below described.

1. Etminan M, Fitzgerald JM, Gleave M, Chambers K.

Intake of Selenium in the Prevention of Prostate Cancer: a Systematic Review and

Meta-analysis*.

Cancer Causes Control. 2005 Nov;16(9):1125-31.

PMID: 16184479

Background Recent studies have suggested that selenium intake may prevent the

risk of developing prostate cancer. Results from some of these studies have

given

conflicting results. Because of these discrepant results we sought to explore

the

association between selenium intake and prostate cancer by conducting a

systematic

review and meta-analysis of the literature.

Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Library

between

1966 and May 2005 for articles that examined the association between intake of

selenium and the risk of prostate cancer. We abstracted the data from relevant

studies. A random effects model was used to estimate pooled relative risks for

both

cohort and case-control studies. Heterogeneity was assessed graphically using a

Funnel Plot.

Results: Sixteen studies (eleven cohort studies and five case-control

studies)

were included in the final analysis. The pooled relative risk of prostate cancer

for

any intake of selenium was 0.72 (0.61-0.84) for cohort studies and 0.74

(0.61-1.39)

for case-control studies. The pooled relative risk of moderate intake was 0.74

(0.61-0.90) for cohort studies and 0.74 (0.39-1.39) for case-control studies. A

dose-response trend was observed when we stratified the studies by disease

severity.

Conclusion: The results of our systematic review suggest that selenium intake

may

reduce the risk of prostate cancer. The results confirm the need for large

randomized controlled trials, which are ongoing, to answer this question.

.... Intake of selenium was divided into three categories:(1)

any intake,(2)moderate intake or (3)high intake.Any

intake was de & #64257;ned as the average between the & #64257;rst and

fourth quintile of distribution or the & #64257;rst and third

quartile.Moderate intake was de & #64257;ned as intake between

the second and fourth quintile of the distribution or the

second and third quartile,depending on the presentation

of the data.High intake was de & #64257;ned as intake corre-

sponding to fourth quartile or the & #64257;fth quintile.The

lowest level of intake was used as the reference group. ...

.... We did not & #64257;nd any randomized controlled trials that

specifically looked at the effect of selenium in with

respect to prostate cancer. ...

2. Meyer F, Galan P, Douville P, Bairati I, Kegle P, Bertrais S, Estaquio C,

Hercberg S.

Antioxidant vitamin and mineral supplementation and prostate cancer prevention

in

the SU.VI.MAX trial.

Int J Cancer. 2005 Aug 20;116(2):182-6.

PMID: 15800922

.... Overall, there was a moderate nonsignificant reduction in prostate cancer

rate

associated with the supplementation (hazard ratio = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.60-1.29).

However, the effect differed significantly between men with normal baseline PSA

(< 3

microg/L) and those with elevated PSA (p = 0.009). Among men with normal PSA,

there

was a marked statistically significant reduction in the rate of prostate cancer

for

men receiving the supplements (hazard ratio = 0.52; 95% CI = 0.29-0.92). In men

with

elevated PSA at baseline, the supplementation was associated with an increased

incidence of prostate cancer of borderline statistical significance (hazard

ratio =

1.54; 95% CI = 0.87-2.72). ...

Al Pater, PhD; email: old542000@...

__________________________________

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