Jump to full article: Arizona Daily Star, 2002-08-03
Author: Carla McClain , ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Intro: What if taking a single, inexpensive pill once a day could stop the most deadly of all cancers - lung cancer - in its tracks?
That's the end of the research rainbow now getting under way at the University of Arizona.
It may not be known for years if taking a daily dose of the trace mineral selenium can help prevent lung cancer in those at high risk for it - former smokers - but UA researchers have launched the first study to find out.
During the next year, some 200 people with a long history of smoking - but who have now quit - will be given selenium or an inactive placebo pill.
They will then be tested to see if lung damage that leads to cancer has been stopped or even reversed in those taking the selenium.
"We are going to test this on people who are at significant risk for lung cancer - and with 44 million former smokers in this country, what we find out will affect a lot of people," said Dr. Linda Garland, lung cancer specialist at the Arizona Cancer Center, who is heading the UA study. . .
Selenium was chosen as the most promising agent to take on this huge challenge after earlier studies found that people with high selenium levels in their blood, due to dietary intake, have a lower risk of certain cancers.
The mineral, along with vitamins C and E, is known to have strong antioxidant activity - the ability to combat free radical, oxidizing damage at the cellular level that can trigger the onset of cancer.
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