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SELENIUM
When a 1996 study found evidence that selenium might slash the risk of three major cancers, the news set off waves of shock -- and hope. In that study men and women who took 200 mcg a day developed dramatically fewer cases of prostate, lung, and colon cancers (though not breast cancer) than subjects who took placebos. And in 1998 Harvard scientists reported that of 34,000 male physicians, those with the greatest amounts of selenium circulating in their bodies were only one-third as likely as those with the least to develop prostate cancer.
Exciting as the prospect of a cancer-fighting pill is, most experts agree that the results need to be duplicated -- especially because the mineral hasn't performed as well in some other research.
The bottom line:
Talk to your doctor about whether your habits or family history make a daily selenium pill worth the bother. One 200-mcg pill a day is safe. But don't take extra. Downing five of these pills a day can cause hair loss, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting.
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