Prostate news article, February 2009

NO EFFECT FROM SELENIUM OR VITAMIN D IN PREVENTING PROSTATE CANCER, TWO LONG-TERM TRIALS INDICATE   Reported by:   Professor Roger Kirby, Chairman, Prostate UK

This month, two long-term trials with more than 50,000 participants offered fresh evidence that vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium supplements don't reduce the risk of prostate, colorectal, lung, bladder, or pancreatic cancer.

MedWire (19th December 2008, Holmes) added that in order "to determine whether selenium, vitamin E, or both could prevent prostate cancer and other diseases," Scott Lippman, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues, "conducted the [Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT)], in which 35,533 men from 427 participating sites in the USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico were randomly assigned to four groups: oral selenium (200μg/d from L-selenomethionine) and matched vitamin E placebo; vitamin E (400 IU/d of all rac-a-tocopheryl acetate) and matched selenium placebo; selenium plus vitamin E; or placebo plus placebo for a planned follow-up of minimum of seven years and a maximum of 12 years." Lippman and the team of researchers "found that neither 200μg of selenomethionine or 400 IU of synthetic DL a-tocopherol, given orally alone or combined for a median of 5.5 years had significant effects on prostate cancer incidence or prespecified secondary outcomes, including incidence of lung, colorectal, and overall primary cancer." The trial was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Meanwhile, another paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that J Michael Gaziano, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, and colleagues, "conducted the Physicians' Health Study (PHS) II; a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled factorial trial designed to provide clinically relevant information on the individual effects of vitamin E and vitamin C on total and prostate cancer among 14,641 male physicians (aged =50 years),"

MedWire MedWire (19th December 2008, Holmes) reported. "There were a total of 1,008 confirmed incident cases of prostate cancer and 1,943 total cancers during the eight-year follow-up period." Gaziano and the team of researchers "found that compared with placebo, 400 IU of vitamin E taken every other day had no effect on the incidence of prostate cancer or total cancer." Furthermore, "there was also no significant effect found for 500 mg of vitamin C daily on total cancer or prostate cancer incidence, compared with placebo. Neither supplement had a significant effect on the risk for colorectal, lung, or other site-specific cancers."