Minerals
Is Your Selenium Level Adequate?
Many people in Switzerland have suboptimal selenium levels—with consequences for thyroid function, immunity, and fertility. Here's what this means and why modern diets often fall short.
Minerals
Many people in Switzerland have suboptimal selenium levels—with consequences for thyroid function, immunity, and fertility. Here's what this means and why modern diets often fall short.
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A person who's truly well-nourished will quickly notice that many others around them struggle with various ailments. As the dentist and researcher Weston Price observed:
"Anyone who engages with this subject will be surprised and wonder how it was possible to be surrounded by such obvious signs of the decline of modern reproductive efficiency, without anyone having noticed or investigated it until now. (…)"
In short: Only someone who is healthy and therefore understands the subject will notice the clear signs of decline in modern societies. This is somewhat like the Dunning-Kruger effect in psychology—but in the realm of health.
This has, as often explained, a very solid physiological basis. Let's take selenium levels as an example. Anyone who can read scientific literature, like this study, will know that proteins in the body that depend on selenium for their function—so-called selenoproteins—are only fully active at serum levels of 100-120 µg/L (whole blood even higher). Many people in Switzerland, like across much of Europe, live in a known selenium-deficient area and get by with values in the 60-80 µg/L range.
So we may well go our whole lives with suboptimal selenium levels. And anyone who thinks modern, supposedly "wonderful" and "sustainable" eating patterns will change that is quite mistaken. Research from 2010 showed that vegetarians and vegans have selenium levels that are 20-30% lower and show reduced selenoprotein activity. They're even worse supplied—which makes sense, because the only meaningful selenium source in these diets is Brazil nuts. Fish, meat, eggs, and dairy are largely eliminated. Brazil nuts—sourced from far away!
Many people don't realize that a body receiving suboptimal—not to say nearly lethal—supplies of micronutrients simply cannot embody the zest for life we all wish for in our daily lives. Why would a body that's practically starving give us any sense of vitality and resilience? So when you encounter someone who seems sad, complaining, or suffering, you should—as Weston Price suggests—look very closely at whether this is really necessary or whether it's self-inflicted.
With selenium in mind, we can make this concrete:
In a specialist article, involving the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and the highly renowned Swedish Karolinska Institute, you find these key sentences:
"Se is an essential trace element of great importance for human health, including muscle function, male reproductive biology, the cardiovascular system, the hormonal system, the nervous system, and especially the immune system."
In other words: All of this works from the perspective of selenium intake at serum values of 100-120 µg/L, not at 60-80 µg/L. But continue, pay close attention:
"Numerous studies on the benefits of selenium supplementation in reducing cancer risk at the nutritional level have been conducted, indicating that selenium likely acts as an immune stimulator—that is, it reverses immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment toward antitumor immunity by activating immune cells (e.g., M1 macrophages and cytotoxic T lymphocytes) and releasing pro-inflammatory cytokines like interferon-gamma."
And of course, most of us are nowhere near getting this. Selenium doesn't come flying to us, as explained. As a result, we sometimes wonder—and those who pay attention will notice that health-conscious people often seem guarded about it. But there are reasons for that. :-)
