The researchers and authors of the study, led by Eliane Kellen from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, used post-study blood samples to assess selenium concentrations in the blood of study subjects. The study contained 178 selenium case-controlled subjects along with 362 control subjects.
The researchers accounted for variables such as sex, age, smoking and occupational exposure in regards to possible bladder cancer onset. At the conclusion of the selenium study, the researchers calculated that the risk of bladder cancer had been reduced by 70 percent in the case-controlled subjects. The actual bladder cancer reduction occurred in subjects that had 96 micrograms per liter or more of selenium in their systems, while those with serum levels of less than 82.4 micrograms per liter did not show the reduction.
"Virtually everyone living in modern society is chronically deficient in minerals like selenium, zinc and magnesium," said Mike Adams, a health journalist and author of "The Seven Laws of Nutrition." "Boosting intake of these important minerals can have a significant on preventing diseases like bladder cancer, breast cancer, depression and diabetes," he added.
The best sources for such minerals, Adams said, are from plants grown in mineral-rich soils. "That means buying organic, because conventionally grown crops are almost always grown in mineral-depleted soils."
Selenium supplement products are generally available as an isolated mineral as well as being combined with other nutrients in combination supplements.
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