Review Finds No Selenium Cancer Benefit

A review of research has found no convincing evidence that selenium might lower the risk of cancer. The review of 55 studies was done by the Cochrane Library. This international group specializes in reviews of medical literature. In this case, the group looked at 49 “observational” studies. Mostly, they compared cancer levels in people who had more or less selenium in their blood. The review also looked at 6 studies that followed a design considered more likely to be accurate. These are called randomized trials. The studies took people who were similar and randomly divided them into groups. One group took selenium pills and another took a fake pill (placebo) or nothing. Then researchers kept track of people’s cancer levels over time. The observational studies found a slightly lower cancer risk linked to selenium. But the randomized trials found no link.