Randomized Trial Finds Supplement Use Didn't Prevent Prostate Cancer

From The Cancer Letter, Oct. 31, 2008:

The Southwest Oncology Group is telling more than 35,000 men participating in a large prostate cancer prevention trial to stop taking the dietary supplements selenium and vitamin E, because no benefit for their use has been shown after a median follow-up of five and a half years.

The independent Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for the trial met on Sept. 15 to review study data and found that selenium and vitamin E, taken alone or together for an average of five years, did not prevent prostate cancer. The committee also calculated that it was unlikely the supplements would ever produce a 25 percent reduction in prostate cancer, as the study
was designed to show.

For the full story, click on The Cancer Letter Archive at left to download the Oct. 31 issue (subscription required).
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tags: NCI|  cancer prevention