Tag: Supplements

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ChatGPT Answers About Different Forms of Selenium Supplements

In our last article, we asked ChatGPT about the health benefits of selenium supplements in Europe. This time, we asked what is the best form of selenium supplement?

ChatGPT about selenium
We asked ChatGPT for information about the various forms of selenium supplements.

ChatGPT answered that the best form of selenium supplement depends on various factors. These factors include individual health needs, dietary habits, and preferences. Each different form of selenium supplement has its own set of advantages and considerations.

  • Selenomethionine: This form of selenium is found in foods like Brazil nuts, grains, and legumes. The body absorbs selenomethionine well.
  • Sodium selenite: This is an inorganic form of selenium. It is generally considered to have lower bioavailability compared to organic forms like selenomethionine and selenium yeast.
  • Selenium yeast: Selenium yeast is produced by fermenting the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the presence of selenium. It contains various species of selenium including selenomethionine. The yeast is inactivated in the supplements.

Editor’s note: The presence of various other species of selenium in the selenium yeast may be important for cancer prevention. By other species, we mean the selenium species other than the selenomethionine that is in the selenium yeast supplements.

  • In the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer study, researchers administered 200 mcg/day of selenium-enriched yeast for an average of 5.4 years. The study results showed a significant reduction of colorectal, lung, prostate, and total cancer incidence [Clark 1996].
  • In the SELECT study, researchers administered selenium in the form of selenomethionine, 200 mcg/day. The supplementation with selenomethionine alone and also together with vitamin E did not show any reduction of the risk of colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer after 5.5 years of follow-up [Lippman 2009].

Thus, it seems that the protective effect against cancer may have come from one or more of the other selenium species in the selenium yeast preparation, not from the selenomethionine in the preparation [Bjørnstedt 2010]. read more

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Selenoprotein P – Selenium Transport Protein and Biomarker of Selenium Status

Selenium and selenoproteins are essential to human health [Rayman 2012]. However, selenium intakes from food vary considerably from region to region in the world, depending on how rich or poor the soil and the foodstuffs are.

Selenium researcher Professor Urban Alehagen
Professor Urban Alehagen realized that the low selenium content of the soil in Sweden and in much of Europe results in wide-spread low dietary selenium intake and selenium deficiency. In the Swedish KiSel-10 Study, the average serum selenium concentration was a quite low 67 mcg/L.

For example, widespread suboptimal selenium status has been reported throughout Europe, the UK, and the Middle East [Stoffaneller & Morse 2015]. In contrast, the soil and the foodstuffs in much of the United States and Canada have a much higher selenium content than is the case in Europe. Serum selenium levels of US citizens are generally above 120 mcg/L. In many European countries, the corresponding serum selenium levels are 90 mcg/L on average [Alehagen 2016].

  • The best estimate for serum selenium status that is sufficient for good health is around 125 mcg/L [Winther 2020, fig. 3].
  • Serum selenium levels below 70 mcg/L are indicative of selenium deficiency [Bomer 2020].
  • Serum selenium levels below 100 mcg/L are indicative of sub-optimal selenium status [Al-Mubarak 2021].
Selenoprotein P as the Major Selenium Transport Protein

Dietary selenium is incorporated into the amino acid selenocysteine, which becomes an integral component of 25 selenoproteins. The best known selenoproteins are the glutathione peroxidases, thioredoxin reductases, and
iodothyronine deiodinases [Schomburg 2019]. read more

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Daily intakes of selenium

Dietary intakes of selenium vary considerably from person to person and region to region. Selenium supplements are necessary to raise selenium status sufficiently to prevent oxidative damage to the cells, to improve immune function, and to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.

How much selenium from food and supplements do we need on a daily basis?  Which bio-markers of optimal selenium status seem to be most useful to answer this question?  Dr. Rachel Hurst and Dr. Susan J. Fairweather-Tait, Norwich Medical School, United Kingdom, and their colleagues set out to find answers.    The design of their study is very interesting.

They enrolled 119 healthy British men and women aged 50 – 64 years in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that lasted 12 weeks [Hurst]. They excluded the following persons from the study:

  • smokers
  • overweight people
  • people with already high plasma selenium status
  • people with long-term illnesses
  • people on various medications
  • people unwilling to discontinue taking vitamins and herbal remedies at least one month prior to the start of the study

The 119 study participants received either placebo or one of the following treatments:

  • selenium-enriched yeast tablets containing 50, 100, or 200 micrograms of a patented organic selenium (SelenoPrecise® preparation delivered by Pharma Nord, Denmark)
  • selenium-enriched onion meals that provided the equivalent of 50 micrograms of selenium per day
  • unenriched onion meals that provided the equivalent of less than 4 micrograms of selenium per day

Measurements of selenium
Remember: Selenium is a trace element.  We measure its intake in micrograms per day, not milligrams.  We measure selenium status in plasma and serum in terms of micrograms per liter (or equivalently, in nanograms per milliliter).  Selenium in toenails or hair, then, we measure in micrograms per gram. read more