מתוך medicontext.co.il
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – Low plasma levels of selenium are associated with a four- to fivefold increase in the risk of prostate cancer, researchers report. They suggest that supplemental selenium may reduce the risk, especially for older men whose selenium levels tend to be substantially reduced.
Dr. James D. Brooks from Stanford University Medical Center in California and colleagues studied 52 men with prostate cancer and 96 controls, ages 49 to 91 years, who participated in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Plasma selenium levels were measured at an average of 3.83 years before a prostate cancer diagnosis, according to a report in the December issue of The Journal of Urology.
"Perhaps the most interesting finding of this study was that blood selenium levels decrease with age–a fact not previously known," Dr. Brooks said in a university statement. "Furthermore, this study showed that there was a direct connection between selenium and prostate cancer. Older men with higher levels of selenium were at lower risk."
After taking into account body mass index, smoking and alcohol use, subjects with the highest selenium levels (13.3 to 18.2 µg/dL) had an odds ratio of 0.24 (p = 0.01) for developing prostate cancer compared with those in the lowest selenium-level quartile of 8.2 to 10.7 µg/dL.
"These results support the hypothesis that supplemental selenium may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Furthermore, they suggest that individuals with the lowest range of plasma selenium represent a population at risk for the development of prostate cancer," Dr. Brooks and colleagues write.
"Prospective interventional trials will be needed to directly test whether supplemental selenium will have a role in the prevention of prostate cancer," they add.
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