Month: June 2018

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The formulation of the high-selenium yeast supplement

Baker’s yeast, the yeast that feeds on sugars in flour and releases the carbon dioxide that makes the bread rise, that is the same yeast that the selenium is organically bound to in the production of high-selenium yeast supplements. In the production process, the selenium is  incorporated into selenium compounds: selenomethionine, methylselenocysteine, selenocysteine and numerous other organic selenium species. The high-selenium yeast supplement gives the best absorption, the best retention, and the best antioxidant, chemopreventive, and immunomodulating support.

We want stability, safety, and bio-availability from our selenium supplement.  The high-selenium yeast supplement – also known as the selenium-enriched yeast supplement – is the best formulation to achieve these goals.

High-selenium yeast supplements are produced using the selenium that has been grown with Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast (baker’s yeast).  Those of us who take a daily high-selenium yeast supplement know that the yeast used in the making of the supplement is dead.  The yeast cells cannot get into our bodies and multiply because they are not alive.

Various forms of selenium supplements

There are both inorganic and organic forms of selenium in commercially available selenium supplements.  There are supplements made with inorganic forms containing selenium salts like sodium selenite and sodium selenate.  Their absorption is not nearly as good as the absorption of the best organic selenium-enriched yeast supplements. read more

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Selenium and statin medications and selenoproteins

Adequate synthesis of several selenoproteins – including the various glutathione peroxidases and thioredoxin reductases and Selenoprotein P – is important for the anti-oxidative defense of the cells. Professor Urban Alehagen and a group of Swedish researchers observed significantly reduced death from heart disease in a 10-year follow-up of healthy elderly study participants who were given four years of combined high-selenium yeast and Coenzyme Q10 supplementation.

In a recent article on the web-site q10facts.com, I have posted a summary of an article in which researchers discuss the various ways in which statin medications may increase patients’ risk of atherosclerosis and heart failure.  Yes, the Japanese and American researchers say, the statin medications do lower cholesterol levels [Okuyama].  

But, the guidelines for the use of statin medications need to be re-examined.  The researchers say: There has been a remarkable increase in the incidence of heart failure in the same period that statin medications have been used [Okuyama].

Furthermore, there are known mechanisms by which statin medications could be causing an increase in the incidence of atherosclerosis and heart failure. read more

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Mercury’s neurotoxicity and disruption of selenium biochemistry

The brain is particularly vulnerable to oxidative damage in the absence of adequate antioxidant selenoprotein protection for a variety of reasons: the brain has limited antioxidant enzyme pathways, the brain has high iron content, and the brain contains many long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are vulnerable to lipid oxidation. Oxidative damage to the brain results in structural and functional damage to brain cells and tissues. A selenium yeast supplement has proven effective at reducing the levels of bio-markers of lipid peroxidation and oxidative damage to DNA. An exclusively selenomethionine supplement was not effective [Richie 2014].
Selenium containing antioxidant selenoproteins play an important role in the prevention and reversal of oxidative damage in the brain.  This role has generally been underestimated in studies of the toxicity of elemental mercury and methylmercury.  The common understanding has been that selenium helps to prevent mercury toxicity by binding with mercury and rendering the mercury inactive.

This chemical binding and inactivation of mercury does take place.  Mercury has a great affinity for selenium, estimated to be approximately one million times stronger than mercury’s affinity for sulfur.  So, selenium’s binding with mercury in the tissues does keep the mercury from getting into mischief in the brain and spinal cord, peripheral nervous system, and endocrine system. read more