This 13 year long placebo-controlled clinical study does not show any
positive cardiac protection from Selenium nutrients, in spite of the
known "antioxidative character" of Selenium.

Selenium appears to join the ranks of the nutrients Vitamins C, and E
which do not live up to common cardiac nutritional clams in controlled
studies.

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Antioxidant Selenium Offers No Heart-Disease Protection

04/25/06

Contact

Lois Baker

ljbaker@buffalo.edu

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Selenium does not protect against cardiovascular
disease, despite its documented antioxidant and chemopreventive
properties, analysis of a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial
covering 13 years has shown.

The selenium-CVD association was a secondary endpoint in the Nutritional
Prevention of Cancer Trial, which was designed primarily to determine if
selenium supplementation could prevent the recurrence of non-melanoma
skin cancer.

Results of the trial, the only large randomized clinical trial to date
to examine selenium supplementation alone in the prevention of CVD,
appear in the April 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Saverio Stranges, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of social and
preventive medicine in the School of Public Health and Health
Professions, University at Buffalo, is first author.

"Our results extend previous research based on smaller intervention
trials focusing on cardiovascular risk factors," said Stranges. "Our
findings are consistent with those from previous studies that have shown
no beneficial effect of selenium supplementation in combination with
other antioxidants on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease."

Several antioxidants, vitamins C and E in particular, that were thought
to play a role in preventing heart disease based on observational
studies have turned out not to be protective in randomized clinical
trials, and selenium now has joined this group.

The main findings of this report focus on the 1,004 participants in the
study, conducted from 1983-96, who were free of cardiovascular disease
when they were recruited. Participants came from seven dermatology
clinics in low selenium areas of the eastern United States: Augusta and
Macon, Ga.; Columbia, S.C.; Miami, Fla.; Wilson and Greenville, N. C.;
and Newington, Conn.

Enrollees were assigned randomly to take a tablet containing 200
micrograms of selenium daily or a placebo. Information on
sociodemographics, health habits, education and body mass index also was
collected.

Participants provided blood samples at their respective clinics twice a
year and reported any new illnesses or medications. Individuals were
followed for an average of 7.6 years.

Results showed no association between selenium supplementation on any of
the endpoints studied: coronary heart disease, stroke or deaths from
cardiovascular disease, Stranges said. There also was no difference in
the endpoints based on the level of selenium at baseline. In addition,
the lack of significant association with CVD endpoints was confirmed
even in the 246 participants who had CVD at baseline. (This data does
not appear in the published manuscript.)

"These results must be interpreted cautiously," said Stranges, "because
they result from exploratory analyses, although from the largest
randomized clinical trial available that has selenium only as the
intervention. However, this report adds important information to our
knowledge on the role of selenium in cardiovascular-disease prevention,
indicating no overall benefit of supplementation by selenium alone in
prevention of cardiovascular disease."