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Selenium
Selenium ~ An Important Player
Here's The Promise
It's an important player in the body's natural antioxidant system, protecting cells from the damage wreaked by unstable oxygen molecules. Very low levels of selenium are known to predispose children to heart disease, and more recent evidence suggests that getting enough could prevent cancer.
In one of the largest studies to date, 1,300 men and women with a history of skin cancer were tracked for 10 years.
The people taking a 200 mcg supplement daily had a 46% lower risk of lung cancer, 63% lower risk of prostate cancer, and 58% lower risk of colorectal cancer than those taking a placebo.
An even larger study is now under way to confirm those positive findings.
Now for The Controversy
It seems that results (as yet unpublished), from an ongoing study in Linxian, China, have sparked some concerns. People younger than 55 who took a supplement containing selenium and other antioxidants had a lower risk of esophageal cancer and those older than 55 had a slightly higher risk.
Here again, one possibility is that the nutrients may protect healthy cells, but in the not-so-healthy encourage the growth of cancerous ones.
So How Much
55 mcg (60 mcg for women who are pregnant, 70 mcg for lactating women).
How Do We Get It?
Again, natures super foods.
Soil in North America, generally is rich in selenium, so most of us already get the recommended 55 mcg a day.
To get a little more, help yourself to whole grains, nuts, and fish.
You should go easy on the very best source of this mineral, however.
Brazil nuts contain so much selenium in fact (nearly 10 times the RDA in a single ounce), that the NIH cautions people, as do we, to eat them only on occasion.
Food.........................Quantity..............Micrograms...... Brazil Nuts...................1 ounce...................544..............
Canned Tuna...............3 ounces...................63...............
Beef......................3.5 ounces (cooked)........35...............
Cod.........................3 ounces (cooked).........32...............
Turkey...................3.5 ounces (roasted)........32..............
Chicken Breast........3.5 ounces (roasted)........20..............
Egg...........................1 medium...................14..............
Walnuts......................1 ounce.....................5...............
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