Make Sure You Get Enough Selenium

By Dr. Al Sears

There’s a nutrient your government seems hell-bent on depriving you of. They have practices that are keeping you from getting enough.

They set up policies that force the small farmer out of business. Farmers can only make a profit under these rules by growing just one thing – only soy, or only corn, or only wheat.

Farmers then have to use all their land to grow these huge crops, and that means they can’t have animals there living in the same place to refertilize it with its native nutrients and minerals.

They fertilize with factory-made chemicals only, so the crops don’t have one of our most important nutrients that you used to get from the soil.

I’m talking about selenium.

Geographic studies have found that in parts of the world where soil and the foods people eat are low in selenium, rates of colon, liver, lung and prostate cancer are all significantly higher.¹

In fact, one of the risks of selenium deficiency is called “Keshan’s disease.” It’s named after a province in China where people weren’t getting enough selenium.

Governments and huge agribusiness companies are forcing this kind of farming on growers in the rest of the world, too. And it’s sending levels of almost every nutrient, especially selenium, right down into the basement.

This might be one of the reasons why sperm counts are dropping everywhere.²

Selenium is essential for making sperm, and the male reproductive system depends on it. Your body has to have the right amount to stay fertile and potent.

In one study published a couple months ago, researchers took a group of infertile men and gave them 200 mcg of selenium and 400 IU of vitamin E every day. In just over three months, more than half the men made more sperm overall, and had more functioning and more mobile sperm.³

The study didn’t say if those men were deficient in selenium in the first place, but it does make me wonder.

Another thing I wonder about is why, right after the Great Depression and dust bowl, when many of these farming practices were implemented, did sperm counts in the United States start dropping? When massive single-crop farming was introduced to Europe in the 70s, their sperm counts started dropping even faster.

Look at this analysis by the University of Missouri. They reviewed 61 studies published since 1938 that looked at sperm counts for over 15,000 people.

In the chart to the right, you’ll see that the study found average sperm counts for men in the United States had dropped by over 55 percent – from 113x106/ml in 1938 to just over 50x106/ml in 1988. And counts are dropping 1.5 percent per year.

In Europe, sperm counts have fallen to about the same level, but they’re dropping twice as fast – by 3.1 percent each year.⁴

And selenium does much more than just keep men fertile.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study showing that people supplementing with selenium had a 20% reduced chance of dying from any cause, and a 50% reduced chance of dying from cancer.⁵

Plus, with enough selenium, you can:

• Have bones of steel – A University of North Carolina study found that an increase of just one-tenth of a part per million of selenium in your body decreased their risk of osteoarthritis by 15 to 20 percent. The higher the amount of selenium, the more their risk dropped.⁶
• Have lots of energy and a strong metabolism – Selenium helps you make the critical thyroid hormones T3 and T4.
• Fight the effects of aging and live younger – Your body uses selenium to make glutathione peroxidase, a powerful antioxidant.
• Avoid illness and disease – More selenium helps your body make more of your strongest immune cells, killer T-cells.⁷
• Drop your risk of many kinds of cancer, including lung, liver, colon and most importantly for men, prostate cancer.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be part of an infertility or cancer study to benefit from selenium.

You should get at least 55 micrograms, and up to 200 micrograms of selenium a day. It’s a small amount, but that doesn’t make it easy to get.

You see, you can’t get selenium in high amounts in fruits and vegetables anymore because of soil depletion. The best way you can get selenium is from organ meats from grass-fed animals, garlic, nuts or fish.

• Fish is loaded with selenium. You can get all the selenium you need from a can of tuna or a serving of swordfish. If you are concerned about mercury in big fish like tuna or swordfish, you can go with cod. Three ounces of cod has 32 mcg of selenium.
• Organ meats like chicken livers or turkey and chicken giblets have a lot of selenium, too. For instance, one chicken liver will give you 140 micrograms of selenium. Muscle meat has less selenium. Three ounces of cooked beef have 35 mcg.
• One medium egg has 14 mcg of selenium.
• If liver and eggs aren’t your speed, you can eat some nuts. An ounce of walnuts has 5 micrograms. Almonds have a little less. A cup of almonds gives you 2.5 mcg.
• One variety of nut offers a full day’s worth of selenium in just one bite. It’s the Brazil nut. Brazil nuts grow in the Brazilian jungle where the soil is rich in the anti-cancer mineral. Just one single Brazil nut eaten right out of the shell will provide you with 100 mcg of selenium. That’s more than what you’ll find in most selenium supplements.
• If you don’t like fish or liver, and are allergic to nuts, then you’re going to want to supplement. If you take a multi-vitamin there’s probably selenium in it. If not, you should switch. And if you’ve had cancer or are at risk for the disease you should talk to your doctor about adding a selenium supplement. You can find these at any health-food store.

Sources

[1] Greenwood-Robins, Maggie Ph.D. Foods That Combat Cancer, Avon Books, 2004, p 29-31
[2,4] Carlsen, E., Giwercman, A., Keiding, N. et al, "Evidence for decreasing quality of semen during past 50 years," BMJ Sept. 12, 1992;305(6854):609–613
[3] Moslemi, M.K., Tavanbakhsh, S.. "Selenium-vitamin E supplementation in infertile men: effects on semen parameters and pregnancy rate," Int. J. Gen. Med. Jan. 23, 2011;4:99-104
[5] Clark, L.C. et al, "Effects of selenium supplementation for cancer prevention in patients with carcinoma of the skin," JAMA Dec. 25, 1996;276(24):1957-63
[6] Williamson, David, “Study links low selenium levels with higher risk of osteoarthritis,” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nov 18, 2005
[7] Reid, M.E., Duffield-Lillico, A.J., Sunga, A., et al, “Selenium supplementation and colorectal adenomas: an analysis of the nutritional prevention of cancer trial,” Int. J. Cancer 2006; 118:1777–1781