Selenium as part of selenoproteins and antioxidant enzymes, helps prevent damage from free radicals generated by oxygen metabolism.
Selenium act as an antioxidant through the selenium-dependent enzyme glutathione peroxidase.
Experimental animal studies and human correlation studies generally support the role of selenium in reducing the risk of cancer.
One study found that men who took 200 micrograms of selenium daily over a ten-year period had roughly half the risk of developing lung, prostate and colorectal cancer as compared with men who did not.
Some expert believed that selenium exerts its protective role by virtue of its function as a cofactor for certain antioxidant enzyme systems responsible for the metabolism of fat.
Selenium inhibited tumor development in epithelial tissues of colon, mammary gland, liver, skin, stomach and esophagus. It is also interesting that selenium prevented cancer induced by carcinogen, virus and ultraviolet irradiation.
Selenium and cancer
