Selenium: A Key Mineral in Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Research has consistently demonstrated that selenium, a trace mineral, is effective in preventing various types of cancer, including breast, esophageal, stomach, liver, and bladder cancers. This finding is particularly significant given the increasing global incidence of these diseases. For example, breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide, and selenium's potential in lowering its risk offers a promising approach to prevention.

In particular, selenium supplementation has shown potential in reducing the risk of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men, and numerous epidemiological studies support the role of selenium in mitigating this risk. This suggests that selenium supplements could be especially beneficial for populations with low dietary intake of this vital mineral.

Selenium is a key component of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, in the form of selenocysteine. This enzyme detoxifies hydrogen peroxide and lipoperoxidases, playing a crucial role in the body's antioxidative defense against free radical damage caused by oxygen metabolism. Free radicals can lead to oxidative stress, which causes cellular damage and can contribute to the development of cancer. By neutralizing these harmful molecules, selenium helps maintain cellular health and prevent cancer.

Studies indicate that taking 200 micrograms of selenium daily can reduce the recurrence of various cancer types. However, this dosage is often not achieved through diet alone. Most Americans consume only 60 to 100 micrograms of selenium daily from foods like nuts, seafood, and grains. This shortfall suggests that daily supplements might be necessary to reach the recommended 200 micrograms, particularly for those at higher risk of cancer.

Initially, selenium was used in conventional medicine to treat dandruff, but our understanding of this mineral has grown substantially. Research has shown that selenium can significantly reduce tumor incidence in experimental animals, emphasizing its potential in cancer prevention.

Studies also indicate that selenium, especially when combined with vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene, helps block chemical reactions that produce free radicals in the body. These vitamins and selenium together form a powerful antioxidant defense system that protects DNA from damage and prevents degenerative changes in cells that can lead to cancer.

Moreover, selenium helps prevent damaged DNA molecules from reproducing. By promoting the death of cancerous and pre-cancerous cells before they can replicate, selenium aids in preventing cancer initiation and progression. Additionally, selenium has been shown to slow the progression of cancer in patients who already have the disease.

During chemotherapy, the use of selenium with vitamins A and E can reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs. Selenium enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy, radiation, and hyperthermia treatments while minimizing damage to normal cells. This selective toxicity makes cancer therapy more targeted and less harmful, improving patient outcomes.

In summary, selenium is a crucial mineral with significant potential in cancer prevention and treatment. Its antioxidative properties, role in DNA repair, and ability to enhance cancer therapies underscore its importance in medical research and public health. As our understanding of selenium continues to expand, its potential impact on cancer prevention and patient care becomes increasingly evident.
Selenium: A Key Mineral in Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Harnessing the Power of Selenium: A Natural Ally Against Cancer

Selenium, a trace element discovered by Swedish chemist Berzelius in 1817, emerges as a potent yet often overlooked weapon in the fight against cancer. Numerous studies highlight its efficacy in thwarting various cancer types, from breast and esophageal to stomach, liver, and bladder cancers. Particularly noteworthy is its role in reducing the risk of prostate cancer, a finding underscored by extensive research.

Central to selenium's anti-cancer prowess is its incorporation into selenocysteine, a crucial component of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase. This enzyme plays a pivotal role in detoxifying harmful compounds like hydrogen peroxide and lipoperoxidases, thereby fortifying the body's defense against oxidative damage induced by oxygen metabolism.

Recent investigations affirm the preventive potential of selenium supplementation, with daily doses as modest as 200 micrograms demonstrating significant reductions in cancer recurrence rates. This underscores the importance of ensuring adequate selenium intake, especially in populations where dietary sources may be lacking.

However, despite its promising benefits, selenium supplementation should be approached with caution, as excessive intake can lead to adverse effects. Striking a balance is paramount, with individuals advised to consult healthcare professionals to determine optimal supplementation strategies tailored to their specific needs and health status.

In conclusion, selenium emerges as a natural ally in the battle against cancer, offering a compelling avenue for both prevention and intervention. Harnessing its potential holds promise in augmenting our arsenal against this formidable disease, paving the way for healthier futures.
Harnessing the Power of Selenium: A Natural Ally Against Cancer

What is resveratrol?

Resveratrol is an antioxidant. It was first identified in 1940 in the roots of hellebore. Resveratrol is found in more than seventy plants species, primarily in peanuts, blueberries, dark chocolate and other products.

Resveratrol is also widely known as a component of wine, particularly red wine. Resveratrol occurs naturally in two forms: cis-resveratrol and trans-resveratrol. Trans-resveratrol is much more bioactive and clinically beneficial than cis-resveratrol.

Resveratrol has an anticoagulant effect that prevents the formation of blood clots that may block blood vessel and cause heart attacks and stroke. In 1997 research showed that resveratrol exits anticancer effects by reducing tumor mass in rats. Scientists demonstrated that resveratrol is effective in blocking in vivo the three stages of: carcinogenesis, initiation, promotion and progression.

Resveratrol may help prevent age-related disorders such as neurodegenerative disease, inflammation, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
What is resveratrol?

Lentinan in shiitake mushrooms

Lentinus edodes (shiitake) is an edible mushroom that contains a polysaccharide, lentinan. Its use occasionally associated with skin reactions.

Among lentinan’s healing benefits is the ability to power up the immune system, strengthening its ability to fight infection and disease.

The amount of lentinan in the fruit-body of shiitake mushroom is rather small 0.88 to 1.17 mg per 6 to 8 grams of mushroom although lentinan is not the only polysaccharide responsible for the immune-activity of the shiitake.

Shiitake mushroom

The shitake extract, lentinan had demonstrated the ability to cure cancer in laboratory mice and is approved for the treatment of gastric cancer in Japan.

Lentinan is currently being used in the treatment of cancer and AIDS by practitioners in Japan, China, Germany, Russia, and the United States. The lentinan is not affected by cooking. Consumed in its natural form, the shiitake mushroom tastes fabulous.

It will naturally enhance the flavor of any meal. To obtain the maximum benefit of the lentinan content of the shiitake mushroom, it is recommended that 300 grams per week per person be included in the diet.
Lentinan in shiitake mushrooms

Glutathione in food

Glutathione is a tri-peptide found in both plants and animals and is important as a source of endogenous thiols, which act as scavengers of free radicals and active electrophiles. It is a small protein composed of three amino acids: cysteine, glutamic acid and glycine.

Glutathione is an important anticancer agent that helps detoxify and eliminate toxins such as heavy metals, pesticides and solvents.

Glutathione attacks cancer in two ways:
*Glutathione hampers the effects of free radicals unstable oxygen molecules that can damage healthy cells and cause them to become cancerous.
*Glutathione prevents other cancer-causing chemicals called carcinogens from damaging DNA, the chemical blue print that tells how to function.

Glutathione’s combination of detoxification and free radical protection makes it one of the most important cancer and aging fighters in human cells.

It plays a vital role in liver health and is especially helpful in the detoxification of drugs and pollutants. Experts on antioxidants believe that glutathione is essential for a strong immune system.

Human can easily boost intake of glutathione.  All berries, oranges, grapefruit, cantaloupe, watermelon, bananas, apples, peaches, pears, avocados and tangerines are loaded with glutathione.

A small mount of glutathione can also be made directly from methionine. Likewise, when methionine or cysteine is deficient, glutathione levels decrease.

As long as the diet contains enough methionine or cysteine, glutathione levels are likely to be adequate.

Vegetables such as carrot, yams, lettuce and other leafy greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus, okra, cabbage and green pepper, and nuts such as walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and sesame seeds are also good sources.

Glutathione serves several roles in the cellular antioxidant defense system. First, glutathione directly scavenges a variety of radicals, including hydroxyl and carbon centered radicals, by donating a hydrogen atom.

A second key antioxidant function of glutathione is to remove both hydrogen and organic peroxide during reaction catalyzed by the enzyme glutathione peroxidase.
Glutathione in food

Ellagic acid in foods

Ellagic acid is a dimeric derivative of gallic acid also known as hexahydroxydiphenic acid, which spontaneously forms a dilactone. It is the lactone form that is commonly known as ellagic acid.

This acid is already present in most ellagitannin-rich foods and is also produced during food processing and storage. Ellagitannin present as the structural components of the plant cell wall and cell membrane.

Ellagic acid and its derivative have limited distribution. They are first seen at high concentrations in the strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries and grapes.

Other sources of ellagic acid include walnuts, pecans and distilled beverages.

Recent studies indicated that ellagic acid possesses anti-mutagenic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in bacterial and mammalian systems.

Ellagic acid has been shown in research and laboratory models to inhibit the growth of tumors caused by certain carcinogens. It causes apoptosis of cancer cells in the lab, within no change to healthy, normal cells.
Ellagic acid in foods

Vitamin E and Cancer

The essentiality of vitamin E for humans was recognized in the late 1960s in connection with studies on premature infants in which hemolytic anemia was associated with vitamin E deficiency.

Vitamin E is considered to be most effective antioxidant more effective, for example, than beta carotene at relatively higher oxygen partial pressure, and is more selectively distributed to the nuclear fraction as compared with other sub-cellular fractions.

The fact that that high dosage of vitamin E is not toxic, therefore many research is focused on anti-cancerous properties of vitamin E.

The later study being made is the relation of vitamin E to the new growth, or division, of cells necessary to keep the tissues in healthy repair.

In one study, when cancer tissue was placed in a vitamin-E-rich blood serum, the cancer tissue did not grow. When a blood serum lacking vitamin E as used in a similar test, the cancer cells divide normally in the presence of vitamin E.

Many studies have also found that high levels of vitamin E in the body are associated with a lower risk of cancer, whereas low level are associated with a greater risk.

These trends have been indentified with breast cancer, cervical cancer and cervical dysplasia, colon cancer, lung cancer, and throat cancer.
Vitamin E and Cancer

The mineral selenium and cancer

Selenium is a trace element, which was discovered in 1817 by the Swedish chemist Berzelius.

One of the most effective naturally occurring weapons against cancer is, like most healthy things, something many of us are not getting enough of.

The mineral selenium has been shown in multiple studies to be an effective tool in warding off various types of cancer, including breast, esophageal, stomach, liver and bladder cancers.

Supplementation with selenium has been found to decrease the risk of prostate cancer.

Selenium is in the selenocysteine part of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which detoxifies hydrogen peroxide and lipoperoxidases. Thus it is part of the antioxidative defense against free- radical damage generated by oxygen metabolism.

It was reported that daily supplementation of 200 micrograms of selenium can reduced the recurrence of a number of cancer types.

Not many people get the recommended dose of 200 micrograms a day. Most Americans only get between 60 and 100 micrograms of selenium daily from dietary sources. That means daily supplements might be worth considering.

Selenium was first used in conventional medicine as a treatment for dandruff, but our understanding of the mineral has come a long way since then.

Recent studies have found that’s selenium can play a significant rile in decreasing the incidence of tumors in experimenting animals.

Today, research shows selenium, especially when used in conjunction with vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene, works to block chemical reactions that create free radicals in the body (which can damage DNA and cause degenerative change in cells, leading to cancer).

Selenium also helps stop damaged DNA molecules from reproducing.

It contributes towards the death of cancerous and pre-cancer cells. Their death appears to occur before they replicate, thus helping stop cancer before it gets started.

In addition to preventing the onset of the disease, selenium has also been shown to aid in slowing cancer's progression in patients that already have it.

The use of selenium during chemotherapy in combination with vitamin A and vitamin E can reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs.

The mineral also helps enhance the effectiveness of chemo, radiation, and hyperthermia while minimizing damage to the patient's normal cells; thus making therapy more of a selective toxin.

In the study of 1,300 older people, the occurrence of cancer among those who took 200 micrograms of selenium daily for about seven years was reduced by 42 percent compared to those given a placebo.

While the study concluded the mineral helped protect against all types of cancer, it had particularly powerful impacts on prostate, colorectal and lung cancers.

Another study, showed that populations in areas with low selenium in the soil have been found to have higher cancer incidence.
The mineral selenium and cancer