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Is serum selenium a risk factor for cancer?

  • Nutritional Causes of Cancer
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Abstract

A narrow band of counties extending along the southeastern Atlantic coast from Jacksonville, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina were found to have excessively high incidence rates for esophageal cancer in non-white males. White males in the same areas have a 30% higher incidence rate for lung cancer but only average incidence rates were found for non-white males. Selenium is considered to decrease cancer risk in the animal model. In this coastal region, a study of 130 cancer patients who developed a malignancy 2–12 years after baseline examination showed no dose repponse relationship between baseline serum selenium levels and risk of subsequent cancer.

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Peleg, I., Morris, S. & Hames, C.G. Is serum selenium a risk factor for cancer?. Med. Oncol. & Tumor Pharmacother. 2, 157–163 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02934543

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02934543

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