Supplements fail to reduce prostate cancer

The search for the prostate-friendly diet goes on as the US government closes down a supplement trial.

The government is stopping the National Cancer Institute's SELECT study of whether vitamin E and selenium prevent prostate cancer because the supplements aren't working and there's a hint of risk.

More than 35,000 men age 50 and older were involved but an early review of the data showed that neither supplement, taken alone or together, was preventing prostate cancer. In fact, slightly more users of vitamin E alone were getting prostate cancer — and slightly more selenium-only users were getting diabetes, the NCI said.

The NCI stressed that neither blip was statistically significant, so it could well be a coincidence  and doesn't prove there is a risk from the supplements.

Earlier smaller studies had suggested the nutrients might help, but instead they've become the latest failures in a quest to find cancer-preventing dietary supplements.

The failure only serves to emphasis the importance of a balanced, healthy diet - food is still the best way to get your vitamins and nutrients.

Researchers will continue to track the men's health for another three years, including previously scheduled blood tests. As with most well-designed studies, the participants didn't know which nutrients they'd been assigned to take, or if they were in the placebo group. If they ask now, doctors will tell them. But researchers say the study's results will be more accurate if most of the men wait to find that out until the follow-up health tracking is complete.