I dug around and found this old topic -- on prostate cancer. We've talked about it more than once, and we all know of racers (and others, too) that have not survived the disease. I've told you that I'm participating in a big nationwide prostate cancer prevention trial, and here's some fresh information about that.
First of all, the "SELECT" Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial is supervised and operated by the Southwest Oncology Group in San Antonio, Texas. The study was begun about five years or so ago and included something like 32,700 men from around the country. The study was organized to be a proper research function -- double-blind, large group, and so on. The basic idea was to discover if either Selenium or Vitamin E will prevent prostate cancer.
Participants each got a supply of supplements to take daily. I took one capsule that may or may not have been Vitamin E and one that may or may not have been Selenium. We had six-month follow-ups and other ways for them to keep an eye on us, including having our regular doctors get information from the trial and the trial getting information from our docs.
Last week I received a phone call from the local study office, and that call was followed up by a letter. Here's a quote from the letter:
"The Study leadership now has enough data to be able to tell you to stop taking the Study Supplements, although SELECT will continue. We have found that it is unlikely that selenium or vitamin E will prevent prostate cancer even if you continue to take Study Supplements."
"The data to date suggest, but do not prove, that vitamin E may slightly increase the chance of getting prostate cancer, and that selenium may increase the chance of getting diabetes mellitus. We want to emphasize that these findings are not proven We will learn more about the effects of the Study Supplements as we continue to monitor your health. Your safety is our priority."
"You may also visit the SELECT website,
www.crab.org/select, for more information."
"We know know that selenium and vitamin E do not prevent prostate cancer."
I've quoted only a part of the letter, but didn't leave out anything that might change the meaning. If you're interested -- visit the website and read more about it.
In the meantime -- there's the result of some research. Take care of yourselves, gentlemen.