Selenium and Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome – according to the American Heart Association, metabolic syndrome is a medical condition that can lead to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other health problems. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is met whenever a patient has three or more of the following five risk factors [What 2023]:

Ambulance
The risk of metabolic syndrome increases with increasing age, with being overweight or obese, and with increased insulin resistance.

High blood pressure

  • High blood sugar
  • High blood levels of triglycerides
  • Low blood levels of HDL cholesterol
  • Large waist circumference
  • In particular, metabolic syndrome puts the patient at increased risk of developing atherosclerosis, the condition in which the build-up of fatty deposits on the inner walls of arteries impedes blood flow and eventually restricts the flow of blood to the heart [What 2023]. read more

    Selenium and Anti-Aging Effects

    Maintaining adequate selenium status is an acknowledged anti-aging strategy. We need selenium to live longer and to be healthier as we age. Adequate intakes of selenium and adequate bio-synthesis of selenoproteins contribute to healthy aging and to reduced vulnerability to various disorders. Selenium and selenoproteins are important for the following biological activity [Bjorklund 2022]:

    • antioxidant protection
    • enhancement of immune system function
    • metabolic homeostasis
    Crowds of people
    Bjorklund et al estimate that selenium deficiency affects about one billion people in the world and may have a significant adverse effect on human health.

    One characteristic of aging is oxidative stress.

    Oxidative stress is defined as an imbalance between the damage caused by harmful free radicals and the protection offered by antioxidants. Inadequate selenium status can reduce the longevity and the health of senior citizens by accelerating the aging process and/or increasing vulnerability to immune system dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, and cancer [Bjorklund 2022]. read more

    Impact of Selenium Status on Biological Aging

    Aging. Getting up in years. Striving to live as long as possible and to be as strong and healthy as possible. At some point, good health becomes a more important concern than wealth. Optimal selenium status is important to good health [Alehagen 2021].

    Professor Jan Aaseth
    Professor Jan Aaseth, MD, PhD, researcher in internal medicine, endocrinology, and toxicology and specialist in selenium research.

    In a review article, Professor Urban Alehagen and Professor Jan Aaseth list the following conditions associated with biological aging [Alehagen 2021]:

    • chronic mild to moderate systemic inflammation
    • detrimental DNA alterations
    • mitochondrial dysfunction
    • oxidative stress caused by harmful free radicals
    • telomere shortening

    Getting old is inevitable. Biological aging necessarily involves a weakening of the immune system and increased susceptibility to diseases and environmental stresses.

    Selenium deficiency associated with aging and aging-related diseases

    Selenium deficiency is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and inflammation [Alehagen 2021].

    Mitochondrial injuries are an important factor in the aging of human cells.  A by-product of the mitochondrial generation of ATP energy in the cells is the production of reactive oxygen species, some of which are useful and some of which are harmful. The leakage of these harmful free radicals from the mitochondrial respiratory chain increases with age, which results in cellular oxidative damage, whenever there are not enough antioxidants to neutralize the effects of the free radicals. read more

    Impact of Selenium Status on Ageing

    Selenium is an essential trace element. Essential means that sufficient selenium is necessary for normal cell functioning and that our bodies cannot synthesize selenium for us. We must get it from our diets. Trace element means selenium is a micronutrient that is needed in very small quantities, in microgram quantities. It may be an important element to slow the ageing process.

    Elderly couple
    Selenium as a component in protective enzymes helps to keep us healthier longer in life. It helps to suppress oxidative stress and to decrease inflammation, to remove misfolded proteins, to decrease DNA damage, and to promote telomere length.

    Sufficient selenium status plays an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, and infections. Prof. Margaret P. Rayman, University of Surrey, estimates that serum/plasma selenium status of around 125 mcg/L is optimal for human health [Rayman 2020].

    The beneficial work of selenium in the cells and tissues is done by selenoproteins that contain the amino acid selenocysteine in the active center. Among the selenoproteins known to have an antioxidant effect in the body are the glutathione peroxidases (GPX1-4 and GPX6) and the thioredoxin reductases (TXNRD1-3) [Alehagen 2021]. read more