SELENIUM - the CANCER crusader

Researchers believe that selenium may help the body defeat cancer by inducing a kind of  suicide in malignant cells, according to Dr. Larry Clark, associate professor of epidemiology at the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson. "In tumor cells grown in the laboratory, selenium stimulates  programmed cell death, which is a very late effect in the cancer process. This makes us think that it is never too late to start taking selenium, because it may have effects on actual tumors as well as on premalignant cells," says Dr. Clark.
Selenium help boosts  your immune system and protect cells from the damage caused by free radical molecules.


Selenium also bids with toxic substances such as arsenic, cadmium, and mercury to make them less harmful. Selenium may  play a  pivotal role in determining whatever viruses  in your body live harmlessly  or turn into killer pathogens. Some studies suggest that a selenium deficiency could be the trigger that shifts the AIDS virus into overdrive.


Because pollution and excessive food processing we get from food, some experts have argued that the optimum amount of selenium maybe much higher than the current DV. While the specific impact of selenium deficiency has not been proven, some research has suggested that an insufficient level of the mineral may play a role in the development of heart disease.
Daily Value: 70 micograms
Safer upper limit: 200 micrograms