Posted on 03/16/2011 2:31:20 PM PDT by decimon
Scientists are reporting that the controversy surrounding whether selenium can fight cancer in humans might come down to which form of the essential micronutrient people take. It turns out that not all "seleniums" are the same — the researchers found that one type of selenium supplement may produce a possible cancer-preventing substance more efficiently than another form of selenium in human cancer cells. Their study appears in the ACS' journal Biochemistry.
Hugh Harris and colleagues note that although the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer clinical trial showed that selenium reduced the risk of cancer, a later study called the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial did not show a benefit. A major difference between the trials was the form of selenium that was used. To find out whether different types of selenium have different chemopreventive properties, the researchers studied how two forms—SeMet and MeSeCys—are processed in human lung cancer cells.
The researchers found that MeSeCys killed more lung cancer cells than SeMet did. Also, lung cancer cells treated with MeSeCys processed the selenium differently than than cells treated with SeMet. They say that these findings could explain why studies on the health benefits of selenium sometimes have conflicting results.
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The authors acknowledge funding from the Australian Research Council.
Ping
SeMet is methionine (an amino acid) with the sulfur replaced by a selenium. MeSeCys is cystine (another amino acid) with the sulfur replaced by a selenium.
Thanks.
Just to be certain, neither occurs naturally, right?
The selenium versions may occur in trace amounts. The way selenium poisoning works is the sulfur in the body’s proteins (which contain methionine and cystine) gets replaced with selenium, and no longer function properly.
Reading another article, it says that MeSeCys can be fortified into normal plants by doping the soil or using a hydroponic system.
I couldn’t find MeSeCys in any natural occurring plants you can buy at the grocery store.
Maybe someone will pipe up that I am wrong.
I thought Kale has it, but couldn’t verify if my memory is correct using google.
Looking forward to reading the comments on this thread.
Can this be purchased by ordinary consumers?
Ping
I found a reference online that said it occurs in nuts, fish and dairy.
methylselenocysteine is what we are looking for.
Dates and Kale and many other foods have Sel, but I don’t know if it is methylselenocysteine.
yea, but does it say it is methylselenocysteine?
The last, played by Marg Helgenberger, came down with a fatal case
of chemical induced leukemia, iirc.
Nutrition stores have it under se-methylselenocysteine
you only need a few micro-grams, yes, if you take a big dose, it will kill you
I wonder what form of Vitamin E was used in the studies and if both studies used the same kind? Synthetic Vitamin E was used to try to reproduce some favorable studies that showed how Vitamin E could lower blood pressure. The original study used natural Vit E and showed lowered blood pressure. The subsequent study used synthetic Vit E and “proved” that the first study was false.
I don’t know if it can be purchased by regular, ordinary people. One would get it from a specialized chemical supply house.
http://www.vaxa.com/selenosteine-amino-acid.cfm
Here you can buy it:
http://www.lef.org/Vitamins-Supplements/Item00567/Se-Methyl-L-Selenocysteine-SeMC.html
The Cystine is the naturally occuring form. Grape seed extract is the easiest way to supplement it.
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