BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A new study pubished Tuesday in the U.S. journal Annuals of Internal Medicine reports that selenium supplement may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

    Selenium is an anti-oxidant and can stop cells being damaged by oxygen. The body usually absorbs small amount of selenium from food for healthy metabolism.

    In this study, researchers collected data of 1,202 patients in the Nutrition Prevention on Cancer Trial. Half of the patients received a daily 200 micrograms selenium supplement and the other half received placebo for 7.7 years on average. None of them had diabetes when the study started.

    The result shows that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is about 50 percent higher in the selenium group (9.7 percent in selenium group compared with 6.5 percent in the placebo group).

    Also the risk for type 2 diabetes linked to selenium supplementation increases with greater blood levels of selenium at the start of the study.

    "Most people in the United States have adequate selenium in their diet," lead researcher Dr. Saverio Stranges from the Warwick Medical School, in Coventry, UK said. "Taking selenium on top of an adequate dietary intake may cause diabetes."

    The study result is significant because selenium supplements have been touted as a preventative measure for conditions ranging from cold sores to cancer and a daily 30 to 200 microgram doses are used by people ??? throughout the United States and the western world. ¡¡

    "The results of this study don't prove that selenium causes diabetes but they are worrying," said Dr. Eliseo Guallar, of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

    (Agencies)