A new noninvasive test designed to detect prostate cancer measures the selenium content of clippings from a toenail.
If a man has too little selenium, he can supplement his diet. If he has too much selenium, he can stop taking selenium supplements. Supplementation with selenium, a trace mineral and an essential nutrient found in a variety of foods, can reduce oxidative stress and genetic damage in the prostate. However, too little selenium can lead to undesirably high levels of DNA damage within the prostate.
The SeleniumHealth test is available from Bostwick Laboratories, Inc. (Richmond, VA, USA), an international diagnostic pathology laboratory, under license from the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation (Lafayette, IN, USA).
This new test enables men to take an active role in reducing their personal cancer risk by paying attention to how much selenium they consume, said David G. Bostwick, M.D., CEO, and CMO of Bostwick Laboratories. Every man should know his baseline level before taking selenium as too little or too much may do more harm than good.
When the relationship between selenium intake and the amount of DNA damage that had accumulated in the prostate were investigated, researchers found that the amount of DNA damage was most severe at the lowest and highest selenium intake, noted David J. Waters, D.V.M., Ph.D., director of the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation. Clearly, more was not always better.
This article displayed under license from Naturally Living, LLC.
