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Selenium: A Powerful Antioxidant Mineral
This is the antioxidant mineral that works
with Vitamin E to fight free radicals. Selenium and
vitamin E act together to produce the antibodies which are important for
protecting the body from infections. As a
trace mineral Selenium helps promote normal growth, fertility and
detoxification, as well as helping to slow aging. It
is believed to be an anti-aging vitamin because as an antioxidant it
protects the body against environmental pollutants other substances that and
lead to aging.
Selenium works as an antioxidant, helping to prevent free radical damage.
Antioxidants have been clinically proven to scavenge free radicals and
prevent damage to cellular structures throughout the human body. Preserving
cell health is actively being researched for its relationship to improved
longevity, health and well-being.
Selenium’s antioxidant properties also help in cancer,
which can result from free radicals damaging cellular genetic
material. Selenium regulates fat metabolism by controlling the production of
thyroid hormone. Selenium supplementation is particularly important for
men because selenium concentrates in the testicles and is lost through
seminal fluid. Selenium, vitamin E and zinc have been shown to reduce
prostate inflammation. Selenium has been used to treat many conditions
including male infertility, asthma, arthritis, cataracts, AIDS,
hypothyroidism, alcoholic cirrhosis and high blood pressure
What are Free Radicals?
Free radicals are highly reactive and unstable compounds created in the body
during normal metabolic functions and also from our environment and
unhealthy lifestyle choices. They react with certain chemicals in the body
and interfere with cells ability to function optimally.
When a free radical enters your body, it is attracted to the cells that make
up the different tissues of it just like a magnet to metal. It then bonds
to parts of the cell, which causes it to deteriorate in a way similar to
that which oxygen causes metal to rust. If the cell gets damaged enough, it
dies. Worse yet, if the cell DNA is damaged and then the cell reproduces,
it reproduces abnormally as a result. When this happens to our skin, we get
wrinkles; when it happens to our oxygen carrying blood vessels, we get
hardening of the arteries; when it happens to our joints, we get
arthritis; in some people - if it happens enough - they may even get
cancer.
Antioxidants work by bonding with the free radical before it can bond to the
cells of your body, thus neutralizing it. This now harmless substance is
then deconstructed or merely excreted.
Increase your Selenium intake with food, try:
Brazil nuts
brewer’s yeast
broccoli
brown rice
chicken
dairy products
dulse
garlic
salmon
kelp
tuna
wheat germ
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