geoffrey modest medical blogs

New study in JNCI attempted to sort out diverse findings on prostate cancer development in men supplemented with selenium or vitamin D or both.  ( see prostate cancer selenium vit e jnci 201 4  in dropbox, or DOI : 10.1093/jnci/djt456).  Previous data has shown:           --From the selenium and vitamin E cancer prevention trial (SELECT) in 2001, a prospective study of 35,533 men randomized to one of 4 groups (selenium 200 mcg/d plus vitamin E 400 IU/d, vitamin E plus placebo, selenium plus placebo, or just placebo),  there was no  benefit from these interventions, and a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer by 17% with vitamin E supplementation alone         --The nutritional prevention of cancer trial (NPC), a study of 928 men who lived in an area of the US with low soil selenium levels, found that men with moderate or low selenium levels and given supplementation with ...

in spite of my recent email/blog on the lack of utility of vitamins in 3 studies, a new one popped up today  ( see     alzheimer mild to mod better vit E jama 2013 , or doi:10.1001/jama.2013.282834 )  finding benefit of vitamin E for mild-to-mod alzheimer’s dz (AD, as defined by mini-mental health exam scores 12-26 who were on anticholinergics). VA study of 600 pts in 13 different veterans affairs hospitals, randomized to vitamin E 1000IU bid, memantine 20 qd, both or neither/placebo. assessed several different outcomes, with primary outcome of results on Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study/Activity of Daily Living Inventory (ADCS-ADL). Had drug company support.  Findings:         --baseline: 86% white, 97% male, 57% with no more than high school educ, mean MMSE of 21, median CAS (caregiver activity survey) with 3 hours of caregiver time per day. followed up to 4 years, with median of 2.27 years    ...