Tag: Aging

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Selenium Deficiency and Immune Function

Less systemic inflammation. Better immune function. Selenium is an essential trace element. Our cells cannot synthesize it. We must get it as a part of our diets. Adequate intakes are necessary for optimal immune system function.

Man in wheelchair at the beach
Autoimmune diseases develop when our own immune system malfunctions and attacks our cells. Then we suffer from autoimmune thyroid disorders, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis or a hundred other autoimmune diseases.

Unfortunately, many of us live in regions with selenium-poor soil and selenium-poor crops and fruits. We do not get sufficient selenium from our food [Stoffaneller & Morse 2015]. Adequate selenium intake and status are vital. There are increased health risks associated with selenium deficiency.

What Defines Selenium Deficiency?

Data from the BIOSTAT-CHF observational cohort study indicate that serum selenium concentrations under 70 mcg/L constitute a deficiency status. Serum selenium concentrations under 100 mcg/L constitute a sub-optimal status [Bomer 2020]. read more

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Selenium and Human Longevity

The absorption of dietary and supplemental selenium has an important and positive influence on human longevity. Selenium researchers have called selenium a “longevity element.” The selenoenzymes and selenoproteins of which selenium is an essential component have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer activity in humans [Li 2024].

Great Wall of China
Typically, China has many regions with selenium-poor soil and selenium-poor foodstuffs. Some regions, however, do have selenium-rich soil and selenium-rich crops and fruits. One such region is characterized by the longevity of its residents. Selenium seems to be a factor in anti-aging.

Maintaining selenium absorption and metabolism at an optimal physiological state seems to be one of the primary factors for good health and longevity of the elderly people. In particular, scientific studies have shown that selenium intake and status play an important role in the incidence and progression of some chronic diseases [Li 2024]:

  • Cancer: inducing tumor cell apoptosis, reducing the mutagenicity of carcinogenic factors, prolonging the cell division interval, and slowing proliferation of malignant cells
  • Heart failure: improving exercise tolerance, reducing mortality rate, and improving quality of life
  • Heavy metals: binding to mercury, sequestering mercury, reducing mercury’s biological availability and reducing the damage to the kidney caused by exposure to heavy metals
  • Antioxidant effects: restoring the antioxidant defense system of the body
Selenium-Rich Soil in a Chinese Longevity Township

Bama Yao Autonomous County is the only longevity township in China that is globally recognized as having a continuously growing longevity population. In 2020, Bama had 102 residents over 100 years old. The number had increased from the 2000 census (74 residents over 100 years of age) and the 2010 census (82 residents over 100 years of age). Bama has relatively stable genetic and geographic factors and a relatively stable dietary culture [Li 2024]. The proportion of centenarians is nearly six times greater than the international standard proportion [Zhang 2023]. read more

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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

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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

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Selenium and Coenzyme Q10 Slow Down Telomere Shortening

Anti-aging effects. Longevity.  Telomere length.  Daily supplementation of senior citizens with selenium and Coenzyme Q10 for 42 months slowed down telomere shortening and reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular disease [Opstad 2022]. The two substances in combination — selenium and Coenzyme Q10 — may be the key to slowing down biological ageing.

What Are Telomeres? Why Are They Important?
Prof Urban Alehagen
The latest sub-study of the KiSel-10 Study data shows that combined selenium and CoQ10 supplementation not only reduces the risk of death from heart disease but also has anti-ageing properties. Pictured here: Professor Urban Alehagen.

Telomeres are the segments of DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes from becoming frayed or tangled. Every time a cell divides, the telomeres become a little bit shorter. When, with increasing age, the telomeres become too short, the cell cannot divide successfully, and the cell dies [National Human Genome Research Institute 2022]. read more

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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