Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013;31(4):305-41.
doi: 10.1080/10590501.2013.844757.

Friend or foe? The current epidemiologic evidence on selenium and human cancer risk

Marco Vinceti  1 , Catherine M Crespi, Carlotta Malagoli, Cinzia Del Giovane, Vittorio Krogh
Affiliations
Free PMC article
Review

Friend or foe? The current epidemiologic evidence on selenium and human cancer risk

Marco Vinceti et al. J Environ Sci Health C Environ Carcinog Ecotoxicol Rev. 2013.
Free PMC article

Abstract

Scientific opinion on the relationship between selenium and the risk of cancer has undergone radical change over the years, with selenium first viewed as a possible carcinogen in the 1940s then as a possible cancer preventive agent in the 1960s-2000s. More recently, randomized controlled trials have found no effect on cancer risk but suggest possible low-dose dermatologic and endocrine toxicity, and animal studies indicate both carcinogenic and cancer-preventive effects. A growing body of evidence from human and laboratory studies indicates dramatically different biological effects of the various inorganic and organic chemical forms of selenium, which may explain apparent inconsistencies across studies. These chemical form-specific effects also have important implications for exposure and health risk assessment. Overall, available epidemiologic evidence suggests no cancer preventive effect of increased selenium intake in healthy individuals and possible increased risk of other diseases and disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Number of publications per year yielded a Medline search using the terms “selenium” and “cancer” (solid line) and “selenium,” “cancer,” and “humans” (dotted line).
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Relative risk (RR) for selected cancers in randomized, placebo-controlled trials (with 200 μg of organic Se when not otherwise specified; see Table 2 for references numbers).
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Relative risk (RR) for selected cancers in a natural experiment investigated in Reggio Emilia, northern Italy, where residents consumed drinking water with high inorganic hexavalent Se content (around 8 μg/l) as only distinctive feature (Vinceti et al., 1995, 1998, and 2000 [119, 121, 130]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Brozmanova J, Manikova D, Vlckova V, Chovanec M. Selenium: a double-edged sword for defense and offence in cancer. Arch Toxicol. 2010;84:919–938. - PubMed
    1. Dennert G, Zwahlen M, Brinkman M, Vinceti M, Zeegers MP, Horneber M. Selenium for preventing cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011;5:CD005195. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bodnar M, Konieczka P, Namiesnik J. The properties, functions, and use of selenium compounds in living organisms. J Environ Sci Health C Environ Carcinog Ecotoxicol Rev. 2012;30:225–252. - PubMed
    1. Steinbrenner H, Speckmann B, Sies H. Towards understanding success and failures in the use of selenium for cancer prevention. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2013;19:181–191. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vinceti M, Maraldi T, Bergomi M, Malagoli C. Risk of chronic low-dose selenium overexposure in humans: insights from epidemiology and biochemistry. Rev Environ Health. 2009;24:231–248. - PubMed