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| Prostate Cancer Study |  The study indicated that the VA and VV men were at equal risk for developing prostate cancer across all levels of antioxidants in their blood.
But if compared to MnSOD VV or VA carriers in the lowest quartile of selenium levels, MnSOD AA males had an 89% larger risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer if they had low blood levels of the mineral.
Conversely, MnSOD AA carriers with high selenium – those men in the highest quartile – had a 65% lower risk than the MnSOD VV or VA males who maintained low levels of selenium.
The levels of selenium in the highest quartile of these men are not abnormally high. Our range is neither extremely high nor extremely low.
While similar trends were observed for lycopene and vitamin E when tested separately, the contrast in relative risk was most marked for the men who had high blood levels for all three antioxidants combined, said the researchers.
This study, as well as many other epidemiological studies, encourages dietary intake of nutrients such as lycopene from tomato products, or supplements for vitamin E and selenium to reduce risk of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is one of the biggest cancer killers in industrial countries and affects more than 500,000 men wide-reaching every year. This number is expected to increase with the ageing population.
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