First, the role of selenium on the human body, he really has a powerful anti-cancer effect
Selenium is an essential trace element in the human body, the body content of about 14-21 mg, widely distributed in all tissues except fatty tissue. It exists mainly in the form of selenium-containing protein. The daily requirement of selenium in human body is 50-200 micrograms. Scientists at home and abroad have conducted a lot of research on the relationship between selenium and human health, and the results show that although the content of selenium in human tissues is small, it has a non-negligible role in human health as well as iron, zinc, iodine and other trace elements. Experts believe that selenium has important roles in improving human immunity, scavenging free radicals, protecting the optic nerve, protecting the heart and liver, and preventing toxic substances from being produced in the body. More than 40 kinds of human diseases such as Keshan disease, liver disease, anemia, coronary heart disease, macrosomia, diabetes and cancer are closely related to selenium deficiency.
Selenium was discovered late, but it is one of the trace elements necessary for maintaining normal physiological functions and metabolism of human body, which can be called “small human being with great ability”. The balance of selenium concentration has an important role in promoting the physiological functions of many organs and tissues.
1, selenium has the function of protecting the body from oxidative damage: participate in myocardial metabolism, maintaining the integrity of cardiovascular.
In recent years, selenium was found to protect cell membranes from oxidative damage and has a role in regulating the absorption and consumption of vitamins, and can inhibit cancer.
2, selenium has a protective and antagonistic effect on the damage of certain toxic metals.
3, selenium can enhance immune function
4, involved in the catalytic reaction of enzymes.
5, play a synergistic role with vitamin E, strengthen the antioxidant effect of vitamin E, scavenging free radicals and anti-aging.
6, involved in regulating the synthesis of some proteins.
The relationship between selenium and cancer was first discovered by scientists. Epidemiological survey found that the incidence of cancer is higher in low selenium areas than in selenium-rich areas. If the intake of selenium is high, the probability of cancer occurrence is small, which proves that selenium supplementation can reduce the incidence of cancer. Selenium has excellent immunomodulatory and antioxidant functions. Selenium can prevent cancer, control cancer metastasis, reduce resistance to chemotherapy drugs, and super doses of selenium can also significantly increase the cure rate of chemotherapy drugs. 2003 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that selenium is a cancer inhibitor, which is the official medical statement of the U.S. government that selenium can inhibit cancer. 1997 American Journal of Medicine has reported: selenium supplementation can reduce the mortality rate of tumors by half. Larry C. Clark of the University of Arizona Cancer Center led the 13-year “Selenium Against Cancer” trial, a clinical trial that met rigorous scientific standards. The trial, conducted at seven clinical centers, found that supplementation with 200 micrograms of selenium per day reduced cancer mortality by 50% and overall cancer incidence by 37%. This pioneering study is known as the “selenium cancer prevention milestone” study, which has strongly stimulated the international community to pay attention to the research and application of selenium.
The anti-cancer effect of selenium is reflected in several aspects.
1, selenium is a strong antioxidant, because tumor patients during radiotherapy are widely oxidative damage, excess free radicals, selenium can effectively remove free radicals through a series of selenium-containing enzymes.
2. selenium can regulate the immune function of the body to prevent and control the metastasis of cancer cells to other organs.
3, selenium can reduce the decline of white blood cells and improve the toxic side effects such as gastrointestinal reactions, hair loss, lymphedema and mucosal ulcers.
4.Selenium can inhibit the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy drugs and make chemotherapy drugs sensitive to cancer cells.
Second, what groups of people are prone to selenium deficiency
Selenium deficiency in human body can be caused by environmental factors or the impact of the disease on the body function, the human body is mainly manifested by selenium deficiency is hair loss, nail loss, some patients appear skin symptoms, a few patients can appear neurological symptoms and dental damage. People with mild or moderate selenium deficiency, the signs or symptoms are not obvious. Possible diseases arising from selenium deficiency in human body: energy deficiency malnutrition, hemolysis anemia, Keshan disease, macrosomia, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, fibroids, cancer, leiomyosarcoma, infertility, diabetes, cataract, etc. When in a state of long-term mental stress and physical exertion, the body consumes relatively more selenium, and the absorption may be reduced, requiring more selenium supplementation.
Third, the symptoms and hazards of selenium deficiency
1, lack of selenium and cardiovascular disease: selenium has a strong antioxidant effect, can prevent damage to cardiomyocytes caused by the accumulation of lipid peroxides, has a protective effect on the myocardium, and can promote the repair and regeneration of damaged myocardium. Selenium deficiency is closely related to the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
2.Selenium deficiency and Keshan disease. Also known as endemic cardiomyopathy. It manifests as pallor, cold hands and feet, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, similar to the symptoms of hypoxia, and sometimes even rapid heart failure, vomiting yellow water and sudden death. Keshan disease is divided into chronic and acute, acute attacks have a high mortality rate, and preschool children and women in their childbearing years are susceptible to this disease. Because Keshan disease is endemic, and the endemic factor that determines Keshan disease is selenium deficiency, supplementation of selenium can prevent the occurrence of Keshan disease.
3.Large selenium deficiency and osteoarthrosis. Large osteoarthrosis is an endemic disease with the main pathological feature of deformation and necrosis of cartilage in developing children popular in northwest China, caused by focal necrosis of the epiphyseal plate of tubular bone growth with symmetrical joint enlargement, symmetrical pain of limb joints, deformation, thickening, limitation of flexion and extension, short stature and loss of labor force, often popular in the same area with Keshan disease.
4, selenium deficiency and thyroid hormone metabolism disease. The effect of selenium deficiency on thyroid hormone metabolism is multifaceted, mostly leading to impaired thyroid hormone synthesis.
5, selenium deficiency and tumor. Popular survey research, selenium levels in the environment and human serum selenium levels in different areas are negatively correlated with the incidence or mortality of tumors, suggesting that low selenium is one of the factors leading to tumors.
6., Selenium deficiency and wasting. Selenium deficiency may play an important role in the development of protein-thermal effects of dyskinesia. Because protein is one of the important sources of energy and is the life unit that constitutes human tissues, if protein supply is insufficient to produce enough heat, the body tissue nutrition will not be able to keep up, so that growth and development are impaired, and then lead to various disorders.
7, lack of selenium and mental retardation. Selenium is related to most of the proteins in the brain, selenium deficiency will affect the activity of some important enzymes in the brain, making changes in the structure of the brain, resulting in some mental retardation diseases.
Fourth, selenium deficiency in the life of people should pay attention to what?
To prevent selenium deficiency, we must first find the cause of selenium deficiency. Selenium deficiency is mainly caused by increased physiological needs, insufficient intake, improper diet, malabsorption, drug factors and disease factors. For example, if residents located in selenium-deficient areas, if the long-term intake of selenium from food is insufficient or the physiological needs increase (cancer patients), they should eat more foods rich in organic selenium, such as Brazil nuts, ginseng fruit, figs, sunflower seeds, onions, selenium-rich asparagus, selenium-rich tea, selenium-rich rice, etc. If it is needed because of heavy metal poisoning and routine treatment of cancer patients, sodium selenite tablets should be taken under the guidance of doctors.
The selenium in human body is mainly obtained by food intake. The daily selenium requirement of adults should be 50-250 micrograms. In order to ensure the supply of sufficient selenium to the human body, in selenium-deficient areas, the selenium spray fertilization method for crops can increase the selenium content in food. Among the foods containing selenium, garlic, onions, mushrooms and cereals of wheat, millet and corn are richer in content. The liver and kidney of animals in general also contain more selenium. While the content in dairy products and fruits is less. Once the body is deficient in selenium, selective consumption of some foods rich in selenium can increase the amount of selenium in the body. In addition, the appropriate amount of selenium preparations such as sodium selenite is also very beneficial.
V. What kind of people can supplement selenium?
1, liver disease patients
A large number of studies have shown that the blood selenium level in patients with viral hepatitis, chronic prolonged hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis, fatty liver and liver cirrhosis is significantly lower than normal people. Timely supplementation of selenium can improve the liver cell environment, promote the repair and regeneration of liver cells, restore the detoxification function of liver cells, improve the liver’s own resistance to disease, prevent alcoholic liver disease, and prevent liver carcinogenesis. Chronic hepatitis patients can usually eat more selenium-rich foods, such as scallops, yellow fish, nori, kelp, shiitake mushrooms, silver fungus and so on.
2.Diabetic patients
Selenium deficiency is one of the causative factors of diabetes. Selenium supplementation has a strong adjuvant therapeutic function for diabetic patients, which can gradually restore the function of the pancreas and also delay, reduce and prevent the occurrence of complications of diabetes.
3, prostate disease patients
Prostate enlargement is a common disease in elderly men, the cause of its onset is still unclear. Data show that the incidence of prostate hyperplasia in low selenium areas increases, the age tends to be younger, especially in low selenium environment of cadmium operations workers more suffer from this disease. The actual selenium can make the phagocytic and bactericidal ability of the white blood cells increase by two times and prolong the life span of the white blood cells, thus improving the local anti-infection ability of the prostate gland and preventing the spread of the curative bacteria to the seminal vesicles, urethra and ureter, and it can soften the scars formed by the prostate body tissue due to long-term inflammatory stimulation and unblock the blood vessels to improve its blood circulation. Selenium supplementation can control both inflammation and hyperplasia, and also prevent patients from side effects caused by the heavy use of antibacterial agents.
4.Patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
It has been found that selenium has a regulatory effect on hypertension caused by various causes, and can maintain the normal function of cardiovascular cells through antioxidation and protection of cell integrity. Free radicals, lipid peroxidation and low-density lipoprotein oxidation changes in the development of atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, hypertension plays an important role, the body deficiency of selenium can increase lipid peroxidation and low-density lipoprotein oxidation changes, so that cardiovascular function is damaged. The survey found that there are significant local differences in the distribution of cardiovascular disease mortality, and this difference is again highlighted by the level of selenium content. The mortality rate of coronary heart disease in selenium-deficient areas in the United States is three times higher than that in selenium-rich areas, the mortality rate of heart disease in low-selenium areas in Finland is seven times higher than that in selenium-rich areas, and the areas with the highest mortality rate of myocardial infarction happen to be the areas with the lowest selenium content in the soil in the world.
5.Patients with cancer
6.Patients with gastrointestinal diseases
Chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers and other diseases are closely related to the bacteria and free radicals in the digestive tract. Selenium can not only eliminate peroxides and free radicals in the gastrointestinal tract, directly inhibit intestinal pathogens, but also regulate the balance in the gastrointestinal tract, repair and protect the gastric mucosa and prevent it from becoming cancerous.
7, asthma patients
Currently found that selenium may also be related to asthma and certain cardiovascular diseases. The effect of metabolites produced by lipid peroxidation on bronchial smooth muscle is one of the pathogenesis of asthma. The metabolites produced by lipid peroxidation are strongly bioactive and can cause mucosal edema in bronchial smooth muscle, producing a strong constricting effect and causing narrowing of the airways. Glutathione peroxidase can inhibit lipid peroxidation, so selenium has an important role in the prevention and treatment of asthma.
8, engaged in toxic and harmful jobs
Selenium can lift the toxicity of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, thallium, tin, etc., reduce the environmental heavy metals and other teratogenic and carcinogenic toxicity, and reduce the incidence of cancer.
Six, how should the correct potassium selenium supplement
The human physiological requirement of selenium is the amount of selenium needed to meet the body’s synthesis of glutathione peroxidase, about 40ug/d, and the recommended supply for adults is 40-240ug/d.
Prevention and treatment of selenium deficiency is carried out using selenium supplementation, and from the perspective of nutrition, it is better to promote dietary selenium supplementation because selenium in plant and animal foods is mainly in the form of selenomethionine. It can both maintain the level of selenium functional protein and enable the body to have a certain reserve of selenium.
The distribution of selenium in food varies greatly with the origin. The selenium content of animal food is generally higher than that of plant food, and animal food has the highest content of animal organs, such as liver, kidney and heart of pigs, cattle and sheep; followed by seafood, such as crab, shrimp and fish; eggs, dairy products and other foods also have higher selenium content, and generally the egg yolk is higher than the egg white; various animal meats are the second. In addition, garlic, sesame, wheat, corn, cabbage, pumpkin and other foods also contain more selenium.
But in recent years, selenium seems to have become a panacea, with or without disease, who want to taste a bite. As if humans have discovered selenium, tumors will be cured! This is not the case. Selenium is an essential trace element for human body, but excessive intake of selenium not only cannot cure diseases (including tumors), but also can cause selenium poisoning. Animal selenium toxicity is manifested as hair loss, peeling, etc. Human selenium toxicity is manifested as brittle hair and nails, hair loss, nail loss, peripheral neuritis, limb numbness, hemiplegia, growth retardation and reduced fertility, etc. Therefore, do not blindly supplement selenium, do not supplement selenium more than 400 micrograms per day, irresponsible drug advertising is too much too indiscriminate, we have to cite one, do not blindly fooled!