May 2020 - Seleniumfacts.com

Map of China — China has regions with selenium-rich soils and foodstuffs and regions with selenium-poor soils and foodstuffs. Researchers have compared the COVID-19 cure-rate and death-rate for infected individuals in selenium-rich and selenium-poor regions in China. They have found that regions with low selenium status have lower cure-rates and higher death-rates.

China and Corona Virus will be forever linked in our minds. However, there is another important connection that we should be making: selenium status and its effect on COVID-19 virus in China.

Let me explain. Chinese and American and British researchers have published a letter in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in which they report evidence of a significant association between regional selenium status and the reported cure-rate of COVID-19 infected patients in China [Zhang 2020].

The researchers’ data show a statistically significant association between the reported cure-rates for COVID-19 virus infections and selenium status in China [Zhang 2020].

The Selenium Status and COVID-19 Cure-Rate

Beginning in mid-February 2020, the researchers collected data from the Baidu website, which they describe as a non-governmental website that provides daily updates of reports from the health commission of each province in China. read more

Selenium and selenoproteins have a role to play in the protection of humans against viral infections [Méplan & Hughes 2020].

Viruses and viral infections are scary enough in and of themselves. Witness the effects of the current corona virus pandemic COVID-19.

Even more scary are the effects of nutritional deficiencies such as selenium deficiency on the body’s ability to fight off a viral infection.

Selenium Deficiency Associated with Increased Virulence of Viruses

Low selenium status, defined variously as serum selenium status below 70 micrograms per liter or below 85 micrograms per liter, is associated with the following deleterious effects of viral contagion [Méplan & Hughes 2020]:

The viral pathogens induce oxidative stress by generating more harmful free radicals. The result is oxidative damage to cells, proteins, and DNA.
The viral pathogens diminish the cells’ antioxidant defenses including diminishing the activity of the antioxidant seleno-enzymes, e.g. the glutathione peroxidases and the thioredoxin reductases.
The viral pathogens increase oxidative stress to the extent that it can induce mutations of the genomes of the attacking virus. The result is that the mutated viruses are more virulent than the initial viruses were. This increased virulence of mutated viruses has been seen in both coxsackie viruses and influenza viruses. The consequence of the increased virulence is to make the viruses more dangerous even to people with adequate selenium status.
The viral pathogens reduce the ability of the immune system to respond to the virus. This reduced immune response to viruses has also been seen in the response of selenium deficient humans to the HIV virus and the hepatitis B and C viruses.

Re selenium deficiency: Bomer et al reported more severe signs and symptoms of heart failure and poorer exercise capacity and poorer quality of life in heart failure patients with serum selenium concentrations below 70 mcg/L. Rayman reported that serum and plasma levels below 85 mcg/L are associated with decreased survival in HIV-infected patients [Bomer 2019; Rayman 2012]. read more

Milestones in early selenium research

1817 Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius discovers selenium

1957 Biochemist Klaus Schwarz shows that selenium in microscopic amounts has a vital importance for mammalian health

1969 Professor J.T. Rotruck discovers that selenium has a biochemical role as a component of the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase

1969 Professors R.J. Shamberger and D.V. Frost report a possible protective effect of selenium against cancer in humans

1973 Professor J.T. Rotruck identifies the enzyme glutathione peroxidase as a selenium-dependent protein

1977 Professor G.N. Schrauzer publishes cancer mortality correlation studies showing an inverse correlation between dietary intakes of selenium and cancer mortality in 27 countries

1988 Professor G.Q Yang summarizes the lessons learned about the selenium-related endemic diseases Keshan disease and Kashin-Beck disease and about the importance of adequate daily selenium intakes

1989 Professor G.G. Duthie publishes evidence for a role of selenium in the prevention of cardiovascular disease

1993 Researcher W.J. Blot publishes the results of the Nutrition Intervention Trials in Linxian, China, showing that supplementation with a combination of selenium and other antioxidants reduces the risk of cancer

1994 Professor G.N. Schrauzer publishes evidence that selenium is important in the maintenance and therapy of HIV-infected patients

1996 Professor Larry Clark publishes the results of a randomized controlled trial – the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer study -- that shows selenium's cancer-protective effects on colon cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer

1997 Professor G.F. Combs summarizes the evidence for the protective effects of selenium against cancer

1999 Professor J.E. Oldfield publishes his Selenium World Atlas, mapping areas of selenium deficiency around the world

2000 Researcher O.A. Levander publishes evidence showing an anti-viral effect of selenium

2002 Researcher R. Gärtner shows that supplementation with selenium reduces inflammation in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis

2002 Researcher Margaret Rayman presents the arguments for increasing selenium intakes to realize selenium’s antioxidant and anti-viral and anti-inflammatory effects as well as selenium’s enhancement of immune function and reproductive success.

Month: May 2020

China and COVID-19 Virus: The Selenium Connection

The Selenium Status and COVID-19 Cure-Rate

Selenium and Viral Infections

Selenium Deficiency Associated with Increased Virulence of Viruses