Almost no one gets enough selenium. Officially, at least a billion — with a B — people have a selenium deficiency.1
But I suspect the numbers are much higher than that.
You can’t get enough selenium from food alone anymore. That’s true even if you eat a healthy, varied diet. And you can thank Big Agra for that.
With their harsh pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and single-crop strategy, these massive farms have stripped the nutrients out of the soil. No nutrients in the soil mean no nutrients in the food.
All of this makes it difficult — if not impossible — to get even some of the daily selenium you need to stay healthy and vital. And that will make you feel old and weak before your time.
If you have low selenium levels, you probably won’t know it. In fact, unless you have a severe disease-causing deficiency, most doctors wouldn’t even think to test you.
I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed. After all, even slightly low levels of selenium can cause specific symptoms, including:
➤ Fatigue
➤ Brain fog
➤ Depression
➤ Hair loss
➤ Weakened immunity
➤ Muscle weakness
Sound familiar?
We know low selenium causes these. But most doctors chalk it up to “normal” signs of aging. Or worse, they mistake it for a different chronic issue — usually thyroid insufficiency.
And then they treat it the wrong way.
You get stuck taking drugs you don’t need and won’t help.
If you’re dealing with these symptoms, ask for a selenium-level test. A simple blood draw could give you the real answer to why you’re feeling old, weak, and tired.
Selenium doesn’t get a fraction of the attention it deserves. This essential micronutrient works overtime to keep you young and healthy every day of your life. It has dozens of critical functions and disease-preventing capabilities.2
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- Healthy immune system function depends on selenium. Selenium helps activate immune cells and prompt your immune system to produce more of the right immune cells when needed.3
- Robust heart health depends on selenium. Low selenium has been directly connected with coronary heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.4,5 Higher selenium levels reduce your risk of heart disease and cardiac-related death.6
- Proper thyroid function relies on selenium. In fact, your thyroid has the highest proportional concentration of selenium in your whole body. Even mild selenium deficiency can cause overactive or underactive thyroid and contribute to autoimmune thyroid disease.7
- Boosted brainpower and bright moods depend on you getting enough selenium. This mineral helps ward off depression and anxiety.8 It’s also been shown to reverse age-related cognitive decline, promote new brain cell creation, and restore memory loss.9
Increase Selenium For Healthier Longevity
A stronger heart… faster thinking… a healthy thyroid… and cancer protection…
You can see why I recommend selenium for all my patients who want to turn back their cellular clocks and live younger longer.
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- Start with your diet: It’s hard to get enough selenium from food alone, no thanks to Big Agra. But it’s still an excellent place to start building your selenium stores. Foods with naturally high selenium content include Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, oysters, halibut, sardines, eggs, and shiitake mushrooms.
- Then, take a supplement. When it comes to selenium supplements, you want to make sure you choose the proper form and take the right amount. Selenium is a mineral — a metal. Those can be tough for your body to absorb in their inorganic form. That’s why you’ll want to avoid any supplement using the selenite form, such as sodium selenite. Instead, look for organic forms your body can easily process, such as selenomethionine and selenocysteine. I suggest supplementing with between 100 to 200 micrograms daily.
- Add some zinc. Zinc boosts the effectiveness of selenium, especially when it comes to cellular protection. The two minerals work to repair DNA10 and protect cellular health and integrity. Take 30 mg of zinc picolinate, the better-absorbed form, a day.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
References:
1. Shreenath AP, et al. “Selenium Deficiency.” [Updated 2021 Dec 29]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482260/
2. Cai Z, Zhang J, Li H. “Selenium, aging and aging-related diseases.” Aging Clin Exp Res. 2019 Aug;31(8):1035-1047.
3. Huang Z, et al. “The role of selenium in inflammation and immunity: from molecular mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities.” Antioxid Redox Signal. 2012;16(7):705-743.
4. Hu XF, et al. “Circulating selenium concentration is inversely associated with the prevalence of stroke: Results from the Canadian Health Measures Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.” J Am Heart Assoc. 2019 May 21;8(10):e012290.
5. Benstoem C, et al. “Selenium and its supplementation in cardiovascular disease—what do we know?” Nutrients. 2015;7(5):3094-3118. Published 2015 Apr 27.
6. Kuria A, et al. “Selenium status in the body and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2021;61(21):3616-3625.
7. Gorini F, et al. “Selenium: An element of life essential for thyroid function.” Molecules. 2021;26(23):7084. Published 2021 Nov 23. doi:10.3390/molecules26237084
8. Benton D, Cook R. “The impact of selenium supplementation on mood.” Biol Psychiatry. 1991 Jun 1;29(11):1092-8.
9. Leiter O, et al. “Selenium mediates exercise-induced adult neurogenesis and reverses learning deficits induced by hippocampal injury and aging.” Cell Metab. 2022 Jan 31:S1550-4131(22)00005-5.
10. Yildiz A, et al. “Effect of the interaction between selenium and zinc on DNA repair in association with cancer prevention.” J Cancer Prev. 2019;24(3):146-154.