Selenium may help reduce risk of high risk bladder cancer

The mineral selenium, in small quantities, may help reduce the risk of high risk bladder cancer, say researchers.

The researchers conducted a study of almost 2000 people, 1108 didn’t have cancer and 767 were newly diagnosed with bladder cancer. While smoking increases the risk of developing bladder cancer, the findings showed that people with higher levels of selenium had lower risks of the cancer.

That’s fine and dandy you say, but what the heck is selenium and where do you get it? Good question.

Selenium is a trace mineral. We need several minerals, such as iron and magnesium. Selenium is mostly available in plant foods but the soil needs to be rich in selenium for the food to absorb it as it grows. It can also be obtained through meat of animals who eat a lot of vegetation that is rich in selenium. We only need a small amount of it in our diet. The National Institutes of Health has this fact sheet about selenium, where you can learn more.

You can read more about it in this article, Selenium may prevent high risk-bladder cancer.

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Tags: cancer blog, selenium and bladder cancer, smoking and bladder cancer, bladder cancer