CHAPTER 21: Therapy with Selenium Cocktails and Co-use of Lycopene and Selenium

Selenium is a trace element naturally present in many foods, needed in the diet on a daily basis, mainly functioning through selenoproteins and able to promote an optimal antioxidant/oxidant balance. It has been shown that selenium might play a role in the prevention of cancer and other human diseases. Lycopene, a dietary carotenoid synthesized by plants, fruits, and micro-organisms has been shown to exert beneficial effects on human health exhibiting multiple biological functions, such as antioxidant activity, antimetastasis, antiangiogenesis, anti-inflammatory ability and anticancer. Phytotherapeutic supplements, mainly based on Saw Palmetto-derived Serenoa repens, are numerous and used frequently. Serenoa repens reduces inflammation, decreases in vivo the androgenic support to prostatic cell growth and stimulates the apoptotic machinery. Serenoa repens is frequently associated with selenium and lycopene to increase its therapeutic activity in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). It has been shown that the selenium–lycopene–Serenoa repens association has a greater and enhanced anti-inflammatory activity that might be of particular interest in the treatment of BPH and in prevention of prostate cancer. This chapter focuses on therapy with selenium cocktails particularly when selenium and lycopene are combined with Serenoa repens, taking into account the potential therapeutic effects of this association on human health.