Voltage Man, OT OT OT
Selenium may reduce cancer because it is a necessary precusor for glutathione, the major detoxifying substance the liver uses. When your liver isn't detoxifying stuff you have constant free radical damage, and free radicals are carcinogens. You can't really get glutathione in a pill, as stomach acid destroys it. I believe some studies have shown that glutathione I.V. stops replication of viruses like Hepatitis C (which can be lethal in some people). Other precursors for glutathione include the amino acid glutamine, and also whey protein seems to stimulate production of glutathione. I've never tried the latter myself but it is called Immunocal.
Too much selenium is no good, as too much of any trace mineral can be harmful, but a modest daily supplement is indeed really important. Back to chromium, for instance, 9 out of 10 Americans are deficient in chromium. That's just because our soils are so depleted. They grow all our stuff with commercial fertilizer, instead of rotating crops and using organic fertilizer (yeah--cow dung--and tablefood scraps that erathworms turn into good soil--). Eating organic foods, particularly vegetables, or fresh farm grown produce from local farmers, is always a good idea, because you are getting food with some vitamins and minerals in it.
Some of the high incidence of prostate cancer, as well as breast cancer, as well as the lower fertility rates and sperm counts in men these days are probably also due to pesticides acting as what are known as xenobiotics, that is, chemicals that mimic hormones in our body. Even plastics can leach into our foods and be xenobiotic. But pesticides in particular do this. I know it all sounds scary; the best you can do is try to filter your water, eat organic when you can, and take protective supplements and antioxidants.
Jill |
