Selenium May Reduce Colorectal Cancer Risk

Selenium May Reduce Colorectal Cancer Risk

ROCKVILLE, Md.A study coordinated by the National Cancer Institute(NCI) suggests higher consumption of selenium may reduce the risk of advancedcolorectal cancer (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, 15, 2:315-20, 2006).Researchers studied the association between serum selenium and advancedcolorectal adenoma in 758 cases and 767 sex- and race-matched controls, randomlyselected from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.Cases had at least one verified advanced adenoma of the distal colon, whilecontrols had a negative sigmoidoscopy. There was a significant inverseassociation between serum selenium and advanced colorectal adenoma among recentsmokers; there was no relationship between serum selenium and adenoma risk innonsmokers and former smokers who quit smoking more than 10 years before. Thestudy concluded selenium may reduce the risk of developing advanced colorectaladenoma, particularly in the high-risk group of recent smokers.