Selenium deficiencies may today be more prevalent than ever before and what is today considered a normal level may in fact be a deficiency. A wide variety of recent studies involving both animals and humans have linked such diseases as cystic fibrosis, muscular weakness, various muscular wasting diseases such as myotonic dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, and many cancers (including prostate, liver, lung, breast, and colorectal cancers) with either selenium deficiencies or with what the FDA considers normal selenium levelsIf you want to prevent cancer or if you have cancer, thank the American Medical Association (AMA) for its wonderful Christmas gift. On December 25, 1996, the AMA published the results of the ten year double blind study on selenium and its correlation with cancer conducted by Dr. Larry Clark and other researchers at the University of Arizona and throughout the United States.
Dr. Clark's study (involving 1312 participants over a ten year period) found that 200 mcg (micrograms) of selenium a day reduced cancer mortality by 50 percent. In addition, the people who had taken selenium had 63 percent fewer prostate cancers, 58 percent fewer colorectal cancers, 46 percent fewer lung cancers and overall 37% fewer cancers. Selenium was found to reduce the risk of lung cancer to a greater degree than stopping smoking.
Selenium, a trace element found in its organic form in undepleted soils, to date has shown greater results than any other single nutrient to prevent and treat cancer and various autoimmune diseases. Because plants do not require selenium, and soil content of selenium can vary from very high to barely measurable from one region to another, there are no predictable food sources that can yield consistent levels of nutritional selenium. In fact many of the U.S. farm soils today are virtually depleted of many minerals
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For this reason, selenium deficiencies may today be more prevalent than ever before and what is today considered a normal level may in fact be a deficiency. A wide variety of recent studies involving both animals and humans have linked such diseases as cystic fibrosis, muscular weakness, various muscular wasting diseases such as myotonic dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, and many cancers (including prostate, liver, lung, breast, and colorectal cancers) with either selenium deficiencies or with what the FDA considers normal selenium levels. When only small daily doses - 200 mcg -- have been added to the diet, positive dramatic results have been seen in both prevention and remission of disease.
In Dr. Clark's study, all participants had a “normal” selenium blood count, according to FDA standards. Yet those receiving placebos had almost twice the rate of cancer as those receiving selenium supplementation. This and previous studies indicate that perhaps higher levels of selenium are needed than those specified by the FDA.
As early as the 1960's, Dr. Raymond Shamberger and his colleagues at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute began researching the anticarcinogenic (cancer inhibiting) properties of selenium. Because it was known that selenium is an antioxidant and that an increase in free radicals increased the rate of cancer, Dr. Shamberger and his associates hypothesized that selenium would wage war against cancers and free radicals. Their study documented a profound reduction of skin cancer in mice when selenium was applied topically in higher than normal levels. In fact selenium was found to be the most powerful and effective antioxidant tested in cancer reduction.
Dr. Shamberger's study, published in 1966, paved the way for many more studies, which over the next three decades demonstrated that selenium is the most versatile and potent cancer preventing agent known. In subsequent studies, selenium was found to protect rodents from virtually every cancer tested including breast cancer, often reducing tumor yield by 50% or more. It was found effective in both the early stages and growth stages of cancer development.
Although many other nutrients are now known to be anticarcinogenic, none have proven as effective as selenium in a tiny dose. Recent research suggests, however, that the antioxidant function of selenium may not be the prime attribute of its anticarcinogenic properties. Drs. Howard Ganther and Clement have presented evidence that a metabolite of selenium, -- methylselenide - may be primarily responsible for selenium's anti-carcinogenic effect.
In China, where the selenium levels in the soils varies much more dramatically than in the United States and the population is less mobile, an ecological study in 1985 showed dramatic results in linking cancer with selenium deficiencies. Dr. Shu-Yu Yu measured the selenium content of blood stored in blood banks in 30 different regions in China, and classified the regions as high selenium, medium selenium, and low selenium. They then compared death rates from cancer to the selenium rates and found there was an exact correlation. In the low selenium classification, three times as many people died from cancer as in the high selenium classification.
Dr. Shu-Yu Yu subsequently performed double blind studies on subjects at high risk for liver cancer as indicated by the presence of the Hepatitis B antigen in their blood. Of the 226 subjects, 50 percent received 200 mcgs of selenium a day while the others received placebos. After four years of supplementation, the incidence of liver cancer was 45% lower in the group treated with selenium.
But it was not until the AMA's recent publication of Dr. Larry Clark's double blind study, initially sponsored by Nutrition 21 and then completed because of a timely grant from the American Institute of Cancer Research and funding from the American Cancer Society and National Institute of Health, that America became aware of the protective benefits of selenium supplementation. In fact the FDA had only two years earlier stated that selenium was toxic and should not be allowed to be sold freely and was attempting to remove it from store shelves. Thanks to the efforts of the Life Extension Foundation and the protest by the American public at large, Congress passed a bill in 1994 limiting the FDA's jurisdiction over the sale of natural dietary supplements.
Dr. Clark began his selenium study with the aid and cooperation of dermatologists and dermatology clinics in the southern states along the Atlantic coast (where soil selenium levels are relatively low and skin cancers are high). The initial objective of the research was to determine a correlation between selenium supplementation and skin cancer.
Of the 1,312 patients in the study, 50 percent received 200 mcgs of selenium daily and 50 percent received sugar pills. Dr. Clark found that selenium supplements didn't have any effect on skin cancers, but halfway through the study the researchers decided to look at other forms of cancer and the number of deaths caused by cancer. The findings were so dramatic that the double blind study, which was scheduled to end in 1998, was stopped early for immediate publication.
Selenium Combats Cancer and Premature Aging
There are several reasons for the protective effect of selenium. Selenium activates an enzyme in the body known as glutathione peroxidase that protects against the formation of free radicals - loose molecules that can damage DNA and cause cancer through cell mutation. It likewise enhances the antioxidant properties of Vitamin E. Thus, selenium and Vitamin E are very powerful when taken together.
In other studies, selenium has shown to significantly reduced the risk of coronary disease at very low microgram doses. In addition to having remarkable anti-aging properties, selenium is a natural anti-inflammatory agent and has been used to successfully obtain beneficial clinical results in about 40-45% of rheumatoid arthritis patients.