{"id":1246,"date":"2019-04-05T12:45:15","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T12:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seleniumfacts.com\/?p=1246"},"modified":"2019-05-01T08:05:51","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T08:05:51","slug":"blood-selenium-concentrations-high-grade-prostate-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seleniumfacts.com\/index.php\/blood-selenium-concentrations-high-grade-prostate-cancer","title":{"rendered":"Blood selenium concentrations and high-grade prostate cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A 2012 meta-analysis and systematic review has shown an inverse association between plasma\/serum selenium levels and prostate cancer advanced prostate cancer in particular. Denmark is in a low-selenium region of the world, and the Danish population as a whole has low selenium intakes and sub-optimal blood selenium levels. Danish researchers have, accordingly, investigated the association between pre-diagnostic selenium levels and the risk of total, advanced, and high-grade prostate cancer. Pictured here: the Dannebrog, Denmark’s national flag.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Higher blood selenium concentrations and higher blood selenoprotein P concentrations are significantly associated with reduced risk of high-grade prostate cancer [Outzen].<\/strong><\/p>\n

The researchers defined “advanced” prostate cancer as\u00a0\u2265T3 or with a Gleason-score \u22657.\u00a0 They defined \u201chigh-grade prostate cancer\u201d as cancers having a Gleason score equal to or greater than 8.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Furthermore, in survival analyses, a higher pre-diagnostic level of plasma selenium is significantly associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality in prostate cancer patients [Outzen].<\/strong><\/p>\n

Selenium and prostate cancer in the \u201cDiet, Cancer, and Health\u201d cohort<\/h3>\n

These are the conclusions from an analysis of the data from the Danish \u201cDiet, Cancer, and Health\u201d cohort<\/a>.\u00a0 The cohort consists of 27,179 men<\/em> <\/strong>living in the greater metropolitan areas of Copenhagen and Aarhus<\/em><\/strong> who were recruited into the study.\u00a0 They were aged 50 \u2013 64 years and had no previous record of cancer at the time of recruitment [Outzen].<\/p>\n

In the follow-years, 784 men<\/em><\/strong> in the cohort were diagnosed with prostate cancer.\u00a0 Of these 784 men, 525 men<\/em><\/strong> were diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer (Gleason score > 7). Of the 525 men with advanced prostate cancer, 170 men<\/strong><\/em> had high-grade advanced prostate cancer (Gleason score > 8) [Outzen].<\/p>\n

Toenail selenium concentrations and blood selenium concentrations<\/h3>\n

In our last article, we summarized the inverse association between toenail selenium concentrations and the risk of advanced prostate cancer as seen in the Netherlands Cohort Study<\/a> [Geybels].\u00a0 Here, we summarize the results of a study of the association between blood selenium levels and the risk of prostate cancer.<\/p>\n

Toenail selenium concentrations are important because selenium content in toenails reflects longer term exposure to selenium, e.g. six months to one year, whereas serum and plasma selenium concentrations reflect shorter-term exposure on the order of a few weeks. The overall picture from toenail selenium studies shows an inverse relationship between selenium levels and the risk of prostate cancer [Outzen].<\/p>\n

Blood selenium concentration levels and prostate cancer<\/h3>\n

The Danish population has a relatively low selenium intake,<\/a> which is typical of the Scandinavian region except for Finland where selenium fertilization of the soil has improved selenium intakes [Stoffaneller & Morse].<\/p>\n

Generally, the mean European blood selenium levels lie in the range from 70 to 80 micrograms per liter.\u00a0 The mean Danish population blood selenium levels are thought to lie in the range from 90 to 100 micrograms per liter.\u00a0 By comparison, the median US blood selenium concentrations lie between 105 and 140 micrograms per liter [Outzen].<\/p>\n

A meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between serum\/plasma selenium levels and the risk of prostate cancer has found a gradual decline in risk with increasing selenium levels from 60 to 170 micrograms per liter<\/a>. The association within this range was even stronger for the risk of advanced prostate cancer [Hurst 2012].<\/p>\n

A study designed to establish optimal selenium intakes showed that a daily intake of approximately 55 micrograms of selenium from food and 50 micrograms of selenium from supplements over a ten-week period can raise the plasma selenium levels https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/20181815 <\/a>as follows [Hurst 2010]:<\/p>\n