Selenium Benefits
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Selenium's benefits include:
- Selenium is needed to fortify the immune system
The immune system depends on selenium to enable it to function well. Selenium helps to build healthy white blood cells, the infection fighting cells of the immune system. Selenium's role as a potent antioxidant helps the immune system fight and neutralise free radicals in the body. - Selenium has anti-viral properties
Selenium's role in the immune system, which helps to build healthy white blood cells, means it has an important role in fighting viruses and preventing disease. The white blood cells (leukocytes) and protect the body from invasion and subsequent infection by pathogens (viruses and bacteria). - Selenium helps to prevent heart disease
Research has found a definite correlation between selenium deficiency and heart disease. Several areas in China and other eastern Asian regions, in which the soil is almost completely depleted of selenium, people develop a heart disease called Keshan's disease which causes the heart to enlarge and function incorrectly. Another study in Finland determined that people with low selenium blood levels were significantly more likely to die from heart disease. Other research has shown that people with significant selenium deficiency - people receiving long term intravenous feeding and alcoholics with cirrhosis of the liver - suffer from heart problems that respond positively to selenium supplementation. Several studies have shown that selenium has a protective effect against the development of heart attack and especially dying from heart attack. - Selenium may prevent blood clots
Research has shown that selenium may contribute to a reduction in platelet activation (blood clotting) which is beneficial for cardiovascular function, as it may prevent dangerous blood clots in arteries that could either be transported to the heart or brain and cause heart attack or stroke.
Many studies have shown that selenium helps to detoxify the body from heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic by protecting the body against the toxic effects of these heavy metals and enabling the liver to detoxify them safely
- Selenium may help to reduce cancer
Many studies have proven that a deficiency in selenium increases the risk and rate of cancers in animals that either have been exposed to a variety of potent carcinogens or have received transplanted tumours. The studies showed that in rats who were exposed to carcinogens and were supplemented with selenium only 15% developed cancers, while in the rats not supplemented, 90% developed cancers. Another animal study showed that selenium supplementation reduced colon cancer by 50% in the animals receiving supplementation than the animals receiving no supplementation. A further study showed that animals receiving selenium supplementation were protected against skin cancer and experienced a reduced onset of less skin lesion and less of them, together with less inflammation, pigmentation and blisters than the animals that were not supplemented with selenium. Human epidemiological studies spanning over 27 countries show that high selenium intake is associated with lower rates of many types of cancer. People who live in areas with selenium-rich soil, who eat foods rich in selenium and who have higher blood levels of selenium have a significantly lower risk of cancer compared to people with lower selenium intakes and blood levels. It is well known that people with cancer have lower than normal blood levels of selenium. Research also shows that people who do have cancer benefit from selenium supplementation at the same time as chemotherapy, which not only to helps reduce the malignant tumour growth, but it also helps to reduce the toxicity of the chemotherapy drugs without weakening their effects. - Selenium detoxifies the body of heavy metals
Many studies have shown that selenium helps to detoxify the body from heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic by protecting the body against the toxic effects of these heavy metals and enabling the liver to detoxify them safely and eliminate them from the body through the urine. - Selenium promotes normal growth and development
Selenium is combined with proteins to make selenoproteins, which are important antioxidant enzymes. One of these selenoproteins, Thioredoxin reductase also recycles lipoic acid and vitamin C, regulates the metabolism of vitamin K3 and acts to regulate normal cell growth, maintenance and development. Selenium also assists in the synthesis of protein for use in the growth and development of body tissues. - Selenium has beneficial effects on diabetes
Research shows that selenium not only restores normal glycaemic control but it also prevents or alleviates the adverse effects that diabetes has on cardiac, renal and platelet (clotting) function. This is a result of selenium's effect on an enzyme that is involved in insulin signalling to the cells. - Selenium may be linked to sperm quality and male fertility
Research links low selenium levels to decreased sperm quality, which impacts male fertility adversely. The research shows that the link between low selenium, sperm quality and male fertility is GPX4, an enzyme which is essential to allow the production of the correct architecture of the mid portion of sperm, that which allows it to "swim" properly. - Selenium has anti-inflammatory properties
Studies show that selenium has potent anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation causes a hormonal chemical called prostaglandin to be released. Selenium inhibit s the release of prostaglandin, which is why it could be useful for people with arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Selenium's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions may be enhanced when combined with vitamin E.