"[6] Selenium and Vitamin E were chosen because they are well known antioxidants and had other mechanisms by which they were thought to prevent cancer, and preclinical and smaller clinical studies had yielded very promising results.
[10] The initial results found that the increase in risk associated with Vitamin E was "statistically nonsignificant",[10] which the researchers wanted to verify in a subsequent study.
[11] A subsequent 2010 study further described SELECT's results and found that neither selenium nor vitamin E, on their own or in combination, prevented prostate cancer.
[12] A 2011 study based on the trial found that the risk of prostate cancer was elevated by 17% in the group that took vitamin E supplements, which was statistically significant.
[14][15] A 2014 Cochrane review found that SELECT raised concerns about a possible association between selenium supplements and an increase in risk of type 2 diabetes, alopecia and dermatitis.