Month: October 2017

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Selenium and heart function in elderly males

Professor Urban Alehagen, Linköping University in Sweden: the changes in the expression of microRNAs — changes that are associated with serum selenium and Coenzyme Q10 concentrations — may be part of the mechanism by which selenium and Coenzyme Q10 contribute to improved heart health.

The randomized controlled clinical trial known as the KiSel-10 study documented that daily supplementation of healthy elderly adults (men and women aged 70 – 88 years) with 200 milligrams of Coenzyme Q10 and 200 micrograms of a high-selenium yeast preparation yields significant health benefits as compared with placebo supplementation:

  • reduced heart disease mortality
  • better heart function
  • fewer signs of chronic low-grade inflammation
  • fewer signs of oxidative stress (cell damage caused by harmful free radicals)

These research findings were/are encouraging for middle-aged adults and for senior citizens, no doubt about it.

The KiSel-10 study of selenium and Coenzyme Q10 treatment
Professor Alehagen and the team of bio-medical researchers in Linköping, Sweden, knew that selenium intakes and selenium status are low in Sweden generally.  They knew, moreover, that the human body’s bio-synthesis of Coenzyme Q10 declines with increasing age to the extent that, typically, an 80-year-old body produces about one half of the Coenzyme Q10 that a 25-year-old body produces. read more

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Serum selenium level and heart disease

Dietary selenium intakes in the Nordic countries are generally quite low.  In Finland, the situation is different because, there, the government implemented a policy of selenium fertilization of the soil.  As a result, Finns have a much higher selenium intake than their Nordic neighbors. Unfortunately, there is not enough selenium available for every selenium-poor region in the world to use soil fertilization as a solution. Supplementation is the more efficient option.

Daily supplementation for four years with a high-selenium yeast tablet and two Coenzyme Q10 capsules reduced the risk of death from heart disease in elderly men and women aged 70-80 years at the time of enrollment into the KiSel-10 randomized controlled trial.  The effective dosages were 200 micrograms of selenium and 200 milligrams of Coenzyme Q10 (100 milligrams twice a day) [Alehagen 2013].

The daily supplementation also maintained good heart function as documented on echocardiograms and reduced the concentrations of bio-markers for oxidative damage and low-grade inflammation.  Best of all, the beneficial health effects of the selenium and Coenzyme Q10 persisted for up to ten years after the four-year supplementation [Alehagen 2015]. read more