Thousands of men who took part in an experiment to see the ability of vitamin E and selenium to prevent prostate cancer are now asked to stop eating these food supplements by the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers said that they had stopped the study because preliminary analysis indicated that vitamin E and selenium supplements do not help prevent prostate cancer, but instead pose a risk to health.
More than a few years ago, approximately 35 thousand men aged more than 50 years in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada participated in the trial, called SELECT (Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial). The experiment, funded by the U.S. government is based on several previous small studies that vitamin E and selenium can prevent prostate cancer.
In the SELECT trial, participants were asked randomly to consume four types of medication containing vitamin E and selenium, or containing only a placebo (a drug no active substance). The first group was asked to consume 200 micrograms of selenium and 400 ICU vitamin E. The second group was given placebo selenium and vitamin E. The third group was given vitamin E and selenium placebo. While only the fourth group given a placebo of vitamin E and selenium. Participants are not told whether they were taking vitamin E and selenium are genuine or merely a placebo.
This experiment was originally planned to be done for seven years, but preliminary analysis of data shows something worrying. Men who were given vitamin E had a slightly increased prostate cancer, while men who were given selenium increased diabetes.
Although the increase was not statistically significant, but Dr. Eric Klein, vice president of research who is also a health worker at the Cleveland Clinic, said that this news is something that is disappointing.
The researchers plan to track the health of the participants of this experiment for three years after they stop taking the supplement.
Prostate cancer is one cause of cancer deaths in the United States, estimated this year will occur as many as 28 660 cases of prostate cancer deaths, and more than 186 000 new cases are diagnosed.
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