Month: April 2018

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Low serum selenium status and increased mortality

Too few studies have investigated the relationship between low serum selenium status and negative health effects. Professor Urban Alehagen from Linköping University in Sweden has published the results of a study showing that low serum selenium status is significantly associated with increased cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.

During an almost seven-year follow-up period, elderly healthy Swedish citizens with low serum selenium concentrations had significantly increased cardiovascular mortality and total mortality rates compared to contemporaries with higher serum selenium concentrations.  Specifically, there was a 56% increased risk for cardiovascular mortality and a 43% increased risk for all-cause mortality.  Accordingly, the Swedish researchers suggested that selenium supplementation should be recommended to all Swedish citizens with a serum selenium concentration below 57 micrograms per liter [Alehagen 2016].

In fact, Professor Urban Alehagen and his team of researchers at Linköping University pointed out that the average serum selenium concentrations observed in the study of elderly Swedish citizens – 67.1 micrograms per liter – is not sufficient to achieve optimal function of the important selenoproteins that require selenium as a component [Alehagen 2016]: read more

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Selenium supplementation in the Su.Vi.Max. study

Depicted above (A): apoptosis in normal cell division with a damaged cell (2) and programmed cell death (1). Depicted below (B): cancer cell division with uninhibited cell production and increasingly more dangerous cell mutations. Selenium supplementation can help normal healthy adults who have low selenium status with cancer chemo-prevention benefits, thyroid function benefits, and cognitive function benefits.

The Su.Vi.Max. study —  SUpplementation en VItamines et Minéraux AntioXydants — was a big randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study carried out with typical French efficiency.  Even though I have written the name of the study in French, there are so many English cognates that I am sure you can read the full name of the study.

The study was designed to test the health benefits of daily supplementation with a number of vitamins and minerals at nutritional dosages (roughly, one to three times the daily recommended dietary intakes) [Hercberg 1998]:

  • selenium, 100 micrograms
  • vitamin C, 120 mg
  • vitamin E, 30 mg
  • beta-carotene, 6 mg
  • zinc, 20 mg

In particular, the French researchers wanted to see the effect of the daily supplementation over a long period, approximately 7.5 years, from 1994 to 2002, on the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease, both of which have been linked to oxidative stress and oxidative damage and might, therefore, be affected by supplementation with antioxidants. read more