Selenium has been touted as a way to prevent prostate cancer in one small study of skin cancer. It didn’t prevent skin cancer but appeared to decrease the incidence of prostate cancer. The study was small and is currently being repeated. Now comes the news, in a similar small study that Selenium may increase the occurrence of type 2 diabetes.
“The researchers found that 58 out of 600 people in the selenium group and 39 of the 602 in the placebo group developed type 2 diabetes. During 7.7 years of follow-up, Stranges’ team noted that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was approximately 50 percent higher among those taking selenium compared with those taking a placebo.”
This may or may not be a valid conclusion but we’ll have to await the outcome of the prostate prevention trial to find out–they will likely add the occurrence of diabetes to their study.
Highly touted vitamins and supplements such as selenium in high doses are not the answer to anything, except the financial well-being of the the companies and practitioners that market and sell them. Speaking of health hoaxes, what is bigger than the U.S. public’s use of these nostrums.
Medicynic 