After billions of dollars spent on studies, a cure for cancer continues to be elusive. This demonstrates the immensity of the task at hand: malignant cells are notoriously difficult to eradicate. Nevertheless, progress is being made in identifying the elements that contribute to the onset of the disease, and most of these aspects can be regulated.

Vitamin E helps maintain healthy eyes and skin, as well as strengthening the body’s innate defenses against infection and disease. The majority of individuals should be able to get all of their vitamin E needs through food alone, and new research shows this to be a safer option.

In the 1980s and 1990s, research indicated that both vitamin E and selenium offered some immunity against prostate cancer.

In 2001, the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) was launched to conduct further research on the results.
Thirty-six thousand healthy middle-aged participants were separated into four categories.

Each person received two tablets a day: 400 international units (IU) containing vitamin E as well as 200 micrograms of selenium; vitamin E and a placebo; selenium with a placebo and finally only two placebos. Neither the participants nor their doctors knew who was receiving which drug.

A new report has provided additional details.

A team of scientists from across the United States screened more than 5,000 SELECT participants who submitted nail clippings as part of the trial’s recruitment process. Fingernail clippings are really an excellent method of determining the amount of selenium in a person’s body.

The research found that vitamin E supplementation alone increased the risk of developing serious prostate cancer, but especially in men with low selenium levels at the start of the trial.

Any claims of the benefits of nutritional supplements should be ignored until substantial, regulated, and properly conducted studies prove these benefits – an event that experts predict to be highly unusual.