Selenium imbalance

Category: Illness or disabilities

Type

Involuntary

Introduction and description

Selenium is a nonmetal and an essential micronutrient.  The human body's content of selenium is believed to be in the 13–20 milligram range. 

It is possible to be both deficient in Selenium and also to overdose.  Overdosing causes Selenosis.  At high doses Selenium is poisonous.

Symptoms

Selenium Overdose - Although selenium is an essential trace element, it is toxic if taken in excess. Exceeding the Tolerable Upper Intake Level can lead to selenosis.

The TUIL according to some sources is 400 micrograms per day, but the true maximum of course needs to be based on age, body weight and need.

Symptoms of selenosis include a garlic odour on the breath, gastrointestinal disorders, hair loss, sloughing of nails, fatigue, irritability, and neurological damage. Extreme cases of selenosis can result in cirrhosis of the liver, pulmonary oedema, and death.

Selenium deficiency - is theoretically rare in 'healthy, well-nourished individuals'.  If it does occur it will be noticeable in Thyroid disruption and disease [the same may occur on overdose].  

There may also be symptoms related to brain functioning, for reasons which will become apparent when we look at the causes of deficiency.

Other endocrine glands are also affected by selenium deficiency and there is a link between deficiency and infertility in men.

Wikipedia has said that 'in randomized, blinded, controlled prospective trials in humans, selenium supplementation has not – as yet - succeeded in reducing the incidence of any disease.'  This only shows how bad research can produce incorrect impressions.  If the disease was not caused by, for example, mercury toxicity then no effect will be measurable. All this highlights the need to find causes of diseases first before treatment is decided.

Taking selenium supplements each day achieves nothing if your system is fighting a virus.

Causes

The causes of Selenium overdose are similar to those listed for Nutritional deprivation - see below.  Specifically, however, known causes of deficiency are:

Intestine disease - It can occur in patients with severely compromised intestinal function

Nutritionally compromised - it can occur in those undergoing 'total parenteral nutrition', and in those of 'advanced age' [who are not eating properly].

Poor soils - people dependent on food grown from selenium-deficient soil are at risk.

Having said this, although New Zealand has low levels of selenium in its soil, adverse health effects have not been detected as yet, possibly because they obtain their selenium from fish and shellfish.

Toxins -  If you have been exposed to Peroxides you could be deficient.  One family of selenium-containing molecules (the glutathione peroxidases) destroy peroxide and repair damaged peroxidized cell membranes, using glutathione.  Peroxides are chemicals that have a bleaching effect on organic substances and therefore are added to some detergents and hair colorants. Other large-scale applications include medicine and chemical industry, where peroxides are used in various synthesis reactions or occur as intermediate products.  Any exposure here could cause deficiency as the body attempts to rid itself of the toxins.

Mercury poisoning - if you have been or are exposed to Mercury, you could well be deficient.  It is now recognized that the molecular mechanism of mercury toxicity involves irreversible inhibition of selenoenzymes that are required to prevent and reverse oxidative damage in brain and endocrine tissues.

Treatment

 Do not use Selenium unless you have positively determined that you have a deficiency.  Although the cause of overdose can be environmental, it appears that it is more often overdosing on Mineral supplements.  For example, a cautionary tale of overdose

This is what happens when you use symptom based and not cause based medicine.

How it works

The following section describes the means by which both overdose and deficiency can occur.

Nutritional deprivation

References and further reading

• Urology. 2002 Apr;59(4 Suppl 1):9-19. Selenium and vitamin E supplements for prostate cancer: evidence or embellishment? Moyad MA. Department of Urology, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0330, USA. moyad@umich.edu

Related observations

Healing observations

• Arsenic, selenium and Vitamin E 013089
• Biomonitoring Equivalents for selenium 013095
• Cadmium poisoning and selenium 013088
• Citrus fruits, kaffir lime leaves, selenium and its anti-depressant effect 013090
• Curing AIDS and HIV in Botswana 013082
• Evaluation of the halophyte Salsola soda as an alternative crop for saline soils high in selenium and boron 021289
• Heavy metal poisoning and learning difficulties in children from Brazil 013085
• Selenium and its effect on toxin induced IBS 013091
• Selenium and mercury in the brains of Beluga whales 013092
• Selenium and neurological diseases 013081
• Selenium and toxin [acrylamide] induced eye damage 013094
• Selenium as an alternative to chemotherapy 013093
• Selenium in edible mushrooms 018156
• Selenium to heal psychosis 013080
• Selenium, chemotherapy and heart disease 013084
• The effect of selenium on carbendazim induced oral sub chronic toxicity 013086
• The role of selenium in human conception and pregnancy 016786

Hallucination

• Delirium tremens and selenium 013079
• Heavy metal poisoning and learning difficulties in children from Brazil 013085
• Se 020023
• Selenium and neurological diseases 013081

Other observations

• Selenium deficiency in rubber factory workers 006297