As with most research findings the study below has its detractors. Research methodology and subjective analysis can always be disputed by others. And that, I guess, is a good thing. Science must always be open to debate and subsequent revision to take it from the hypothesis to the proven fact. In my view, only 'natural' vitamin E, should be used, not the chemically synthesized type. And as for selenium, it is said to be dangerous if taken in large doses. The question for both vitamin E and Selenium is "What constitutes a large dose"?

A 1996 study by Dr. Larry Clark of the University of Arizona showed just how effective selenium can be in protecting against cancer. In the study of 1,300 older people, the occurrence of cancer among those who took 200 micrograms of selenium daily for about seven years was reduced by 42 percent compared to those given a placebo. Cancer deaths for those taking the selenium were cut almost in half, according to the study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

As with many other vitamins, the recommended dose may well be too low. For two years or more I have doubled my daily intake to 400 micrograms, sometimes more, without any noticeable affect. Hopefully though, my prostate cancer did take notice and was favorably affected… grin Naturally, I would prefer to get my Selenium from a food source but that, unfortunately, is a hit and miss affair, dependent largely upon the make up of the soil in any given geological area. It is possible to obtain selenium by eating; seafood, egg yolks, mushrooms, liver and kidney, poultry and muscle meats, Also, Vegetables; broccoli, asparagus, garlic, onions, tomatoes and others, as well as seeds and whole grains, can also be good sources of selenium. But again, amounts of selenium available to each is subject to the available selenium present in the local soils. In Australia, for instance, the soils are greatly depleted of selenium. Quotes from Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, February 2, 2009

"Thousands upon thousands of nutritional research studies provide evidence that vitamins do help prevent and treat serious diseases, including cancer and heart disease, when the nutrients are supplied in sufficiently high doses. High doses are required. Low doses fail. Says cardiologist Thomas Levy, M.D.: "The three most important considerations in effective vitamin C therapy are dose, dose, and dose. If you don't take enough, you won't get the desired effects."

and…

"Effective doses are high doses, often hundreds of times more than the US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Daily Reference Intake (DRI). Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., comments: "Drs. Wilfrid Shute and Evan Shute recommended doses from 400 IU to 8,000 IU of vitamin E daily. The usual dose range was 800 to 1600 IU but they report that they had given 8,000 IU without seeing any toxicity." The Shutes successfully treated over 35,000 patients with vitamin E".

I understand that following representations from the health sciences world, the official Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is presently being reviewed on the basis that current doses are far too low to be effective. Problem with that of course is that the pharmaceutical industry prefer it to be so, to safeguard their commercial interests and in support their argument that vitamins are ineffective and dangerous. A contention they cannot possibly sustain on historical evidence.

Extract from Nutra Ingredients article: Vitamin E, selenium may alter genes in prostate cancer: Study "Selenium and vitamin E may offer protection against prostate cancer by changing the expression of certain genes in prostates linked to tumours, says a new study from Texas. Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, scientists from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston report that exposure of biopsy samples from people with cancer to vitamin E, selenium or both, expressed different genes, with the combined exposure producing results similar to that observed in people with no prostate cancer". Now click here for the article from Nutra Ingredients

Today's quote:

"There is not one, but many cures for cancer available. But they are all being systematically suppressed by the ACS, the NCI and the major oncology centres. They have too much of an interest in the status quo."–Dr Robert Atkins, M.D.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Cancer Prevention - General, Informative Web-Sites, News Items. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.