Selenium
is an oligoemelent with antioxidant proprieties and a synergist of the
vitamin E. Minimal doses of selenium, in general in organic
combinations and in particular in “Factor 3”,
prevent
disturbances caused by tocopherol deficiency such as hepatic necrosis,
exudative diathesis and degenerative distrophia of the striate muscles.
For this reason, in the USA, a daily dose of 60 mg is recommended in
humans. In animals, selenium becomes biologically active in
concentrations exceeding 40 mg/ food – kg. It seems that
selenium
plays its own biochemical part by intermediating glutathione,
indirectly protecting hemoglobin against the risk of oxidation by
peroxides. Glutathione peroxidase, with the European code E.C.
1.11.1.9. has selenium for its coenzyme. Even if their biochemical
mechanisms are distinct, the question is whether or not should a global
nutritional requirement of “vitamin E –
selenium”
should be envisaged. In higher concentrations, e.g. over 5 mg/ food
ratio – kg, selenium is toxic, causing clinical disturbances
in
aries selenium - rich pastures known as “alkali
disease”.
“Alkali
disease” is a syndrome due to chronic selenium
intoxication, characterized by abnormal behavior, sight disturbances,
paralysis and functional disturbances of the mouth and lips. Selenium
excess causes blindness, loss of the body hair, respiratory and cardiac
atrophy, liver cirrhosis, anemia, various types of paralysis, etc.
Arsenic sulphates are the natural
antagonists of selenium.
The
History of The
Discovery of Selenium
Selenium
was discovered in 1817. 140 years later, in 1957, Schwartz and Fiulz
have established the essential role of selenium in preventing various
diseases, apparently all very different, but all of them caused by
nutritional deficiencies: exudative diathesis, muscular dystrophy,
pancreatic atrophy, liver necrosis, reproduction troubles,
immunodeficiency, etc. The discovery, in 1973, of the presence of
selenium in the active part of an enzyme, glutathione peroxidase,
helped biochemists and physio - pathologists to understand the benefic
effects of this metalloid on the excessive production of free radicals.
In 1979, scientists from the Kehan Disease Research Group have
practically proved that selenium therapy was efficient against endemic
congestive cardiomyopathia affecting small children and women in some
parts of the world (like for example in China, where the soil is very
poor in selenium ), causing havoc in those countries. Both the
preventive and curative effects of selenium in the chronic and/ or
degenerative diseases are being thoroughly researched all around the
world. Consequently, the number of publications on the subject is
continuously increasing.
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page ... → The
Metabolism of
SeleniumDecember
2, 2009