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# Selenium supplements may reduce breast cancer death risk
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/selenium_breast_cancer_death_1014120341/
- Published: 2012-10-14T16:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:01:33.000Z
- Description: Researchers followed 3,146 Swedish women with invasive breast cancer for 28,172 person-years and found those with the highest dietary selenium intake were 31 percent less likely to die of the disease. The apparent effect was strongest among women who had ever smoked.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Minerals, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

By Jimmy Downs

Sunday Oct 14, 2012 ([foodconsumer.org](http://www.foodconsumer.org/)) -- A new study in Breast Cancer Tesearch and Treatment suggests that having sufficient intake of dietary selenium including selenium supplementation may reduce risk of developing breast cancer.

H.R. Harris at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden and colleagues conducted the study and found those who were in the highest quintile of dietary selenium intake were 31 percent less likely to develop breast cancer, compared with those in the lowest quintile.

Selenium, commonly viewed as an antioxidant, is a cofactor in the production of antioxidant enzymes that may play a role in cancer progression. In fact, many interventional trials have demonstrated that selenium supplementation reduced cancer mortality.

For the study, researchers conducted an analysis of data from 3,146 women diagnose with invasive breast cancer in the population-based Swedish Mammography Cohort to examine whether dietary selenium intake would affect the survival odds among the patients.

Selenium intake in the study population was surveyed prior to breast cancer diagnosis using a food frequency questionnaire that was completed in 1987\. Outcomes to consider in the study included death from breast cancer, non-breast cancer death and death from all causes.

During 28,172 person-years of follow-up from 1987 through 2009, 416 breast cancer-specific deaths and 964 total deaths were recorded.

The study found dietary selenium intake was inversely correlated with breast cancer-specific mortality and overall mortality (death from all causes). 

Breast cancer patients in the highest quartile of selenium intake were at a 31 percent reduced risk of death from breast cancer, compared with those who were in the lowest quintile.

The apparently protective effect was particularly strong among women who had ever smoked. Among this group, the reduction in the risk of breast cancer was reduced by 66 percent among those in the highest quintile of dietary intake of selenium, compared with those in the lowest quintile.

The researchers concluded "Our findings suggest that selenium intake before breast cancer diagnosis may improve breast cancer-specific survival and overall survival. However, these results may be limited to populations with low intakes of selenium."