Selenium & Cancer
Selenium in our Body – Experiments on animals have told us that insufficient selenium in our bodies increases that risk of developing cancer. Food supplements of 1-5 parts per million of selenium can repress skin cancer, leukemia, sarcomas, liver cancer and cancer of the large intestines. These disease occurs in rats, and it and similar viruses are carcinogenic and be stopped by selenium. These anti-cancer properties can be reinforced by vitamins A and E, when they increase the success rate against cancer in animals from 50% to 90%.
Research on selenium – This was first detected in the united states in the 1960s because of diet differences from state to state. Many studies have reported that cancer patients with diseases affecting the kidneys, bladder, breast, ovaries, prostate, blood, skin and the rectum show selenium levels in blood and tissue that are 30 per cent lower than those in a healthy control group. One problem with this is that a sick person will not eat the same food or have as good an appetite as a healthy person, so you cannot assume that low selenium status causes cancer. Studies showed that the people who developed cancer had low selenium values for years before the disease was detected.
Antioxidants & Selenium – Lack of vitamin E and selenium can increase the chances of getting cancer by some factors , said one of the recent major studies in Finland. If lack of selenium is associated with deficiencies of other antioxidant vitamins and minerals, e.g. beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin E, copper, zinc, manganese, then the probability of getting cancer is heightened further. Selenium protects the cells from damage caused by oxygen-free radicals. These compounds are highly reactive and form peroxides, which accelerate the promotion phase of cancer.
Selenium fights with pre -cancerous cells .
- Selenium can lower maximum the mutagenic power of carcinogenic chemicals or carcinogens. This means that the chemicals, viruses and radiation cause less damage to the genetic material in cells.
- Selenium does not allow or create inhibitions to carcinogenic viruses to reproduce in even low immune body.
- Selenium check & curbs the division of cancer cells and halts them spreading through the tissues in human body.
Despite the myriad activities of selenium, it must not be forgotten that there are many interacting factors that trigger cancers to develop. Selenium has been used since 1911 as a treatment for cancer, boosting antioxidant levels and empowering the immune defense mechanism. This uses higher doses than are used in preventing disorders, when 200-300ug is the dosage used.
Heart diseases & Selenium
A study carried out in Finland in 1982 showed that when serum levels of selenium were less than 45ugl-1 , the chances of contracting heart disease were elevated by a factor between 2 and 7 . This work determined that serum levels of under 85ugl-1 were associated with the risk factors leading to coronary heart disease, e.g. increased aggregation of platelets, low HDL-cholesterol, and changes during exercise. People with acute myocardial infarction are frequently lacking in selenium and vitamin B6 & therefore M.I can be reduced by antioxidants.
Selenium & Fat soluble Vitamins – Best results are obtained from a mixture of water-soluble and fat soluble antioxidants. A British investigation done in the late 1980s found that people with heart infarction and arteriosclerosis have quantities of lipid peroxides (rancid fat ) in their blood and that this may be the cause of the problem. This theory is backed up by animal experiments. Vitamins such as A, C and E and the mineral zinc can protect the heart from Ischemia and reperfusion injury.
So although based on uncountable research ,selenium has very important role in Cancer & other antioxidants, beneficial activities in our body but we common people are often overlooking it’s inclusion in foods in daily life even knowingly or may be unknowingly.
