An Australian man has died after swallowing 10,000 times the daily dose of selenium, reports The Age online newspaper. The 75-year-old mistakenly “purchased sodium selenite powder used primarily as a supplement for livestock, swallowing 10 grams.”

The man’s case is reported was reported October 2 in the Medical Journal of Australia (“Accidental death from acute selenium poisoning“).

According to The Age, Australian doctors who treated the 75-year-old “have used his death to highlight the dangers of promoting complementary medicines without adequate instructions.” The doctors blame the internet.

Selenium for human consumption, as sold in pharmacies, health stores and supermarkets , typically comes in 200 microgram pills or capsules, which may be printed “200 mcg.”

RICHMOND, Va., April 12 /PRNewswire/ — Selenium levels may predict the
risk of a man’s prostate cancer, and now a simple, reliable selenium
test is available.

The first selenium test that predicts prostate cancer risk, SeleniumHealth(TM), is now available exclusively from Bostwick Laboratories, Inc., an international diagnostic pathology laboratory. A man simply trims one or more toenails and submits the clippings for selenium content. SeleniumHealth(TM) is provided by Bostwick Laboratories, Inc. under license from the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation.

Press release at: Bostwick Labs

As reported, A Protein That Helps Maintain Vitamin E Levels Suppresses Prostate Cancer, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have found an organic protein in the body, a protein, that helps prostate cancer cells retain vitamin E. This helps vitamin E to limit the growth of the cancer.

This protein, which they call scientists have named alpha tocopherol associated protein, or TAP, suppresses growth of the cancer by disrupting an important signaling pathway in prostate cancer cells.

A reader asks, for men with prostate cancer would it help to take a high quality vitamin E pill?

We don’t really know. Last year a controversial study from Johns Hopkins found that, especially in older people, consumption of current maximum dose of vitamin E was associated with a higher death rate.