Selenium is a trace element and mineral and is essential for human life. It’s a powerful antioxidant that protects your cells from oxidative stress and it is vital for thyroid function, brain health, and other body functions.
Following are 7 ways Selenium benefits your health.
- Protects Your Gut – Fixing your gut is critical for healing from autoimmune conditions and achieving great health. Low selenium increases inflammation in the gut. It is required to regulate healthy function of gut bacteria and down regulates vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), commonly found in most gastrointestinal cancers.
- Powerful Antioxidant – selenium slows and prevents cell damage by protecting against free radicals and oxidative stress. It combines with other proteins to create glutathione, which is critical for detoxification and proper immune function.
- Thyroid Support – poor thyroid function is behind fatigue, weight gain, and hair loss. Selenium is essential for the thyroid gland to produce and regulate the thyroid hormone T4 and for the conversion of T4 to T3 and low T3 causes low thyroid activity.
- Heavy Metal Detoxification – selenium has the ability to bind to mercury and has been shown to increase its excretion from the body.
- Improves Brain Function – selenium is anti-inflammatory in the brain and supports the detoxification of neurotoxins that can cause brain fog, anxiety, or panic attacks. It can also help with feelings of joy and happiness.
- Improves Immune Function – selenium is needed for proper functioning of the immune system. It protects against cancer and autoimmunity and studies show a correlation between low concentrations of selenium and increased cancer and autoimmunity.
- Reproductive Health – selenium is critical for male and female reproductive health and a deficiency can cause infertility. Selenium enables sperm locomotion. There is a link between selenium deficiency and miscarriage.
The recommended daily allowance of selenium is 70 mcg a day and some doctors recommend up to 400 mcg a day while dealing with mercury toxicity, cancer, or autoimmune disorders.
A great source of selenium is from Brazil nuts, which have approximately 200 mcg of selenium, so one a day will do the trick. Additionally you can supplement with Selenium CWS.
Cites
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Selenium-HealthProfessional/
http://www.seleniumresearch.com/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3723386/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7642407
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/698281