Should I apologize for adding one more supplement to your Covid Kit? I don’t feel too bad about it, because… studies!
I’m taking a selenium supplement now, it’s a smallish capsule. I think when you see its power, you will forgive me.
I’m going to share some links and studies below – they are quite scientific and they use all the jargon. I don’t expect all of you will want to read them, so I extracted some quotes that communicate easily the power of selenium, and you can skip the study if you want to.
Definition note – this term shows up in some of the studies:
µg is the symbol for the metric measurement microgram, which is one thousandth of a milligram or one millionth of a gram. The letter µ is a Greek letter, which means “small”, though often you will see “ug” or “mcg” (microgram) used in its place due to typographical unavailability.
Here is a quote from a proposed trial (link below):
“Given its anti-viral, anti-oxidative, immune-enhancing, cytokine-modulating, and anticoagulant properties, the investigators hypothesize that Selenium infusion at supranutritional doses for moderately-ill, severely-ill, and critically-ill COVID-19 patients will prevent further clinical deterioration thus decreasing overall mortality and improving survival.”
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04869579
Here is a quote from a study (link below):
“Selenium plays a key role in strengthening immunity, reducing oxidative stress, preventing viral infections and supporting critical illness. Moreover, selenium deficiency is related to oxidative stress and hyperinflammation seen in critical illness, and selenium deficiency is found to be associated with the severity of COVID-19 disease. Selenium supplementation at an appropriate dose may act as supportive therapy in COVID-19.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33835432/
Another quote, link below:
“Selenium has an ongoing history of reducing the incidence and severity of various viral infections; for example, a German study found selenium status to be significantly higher in serum samples from surviving than non-surviving COVID-19 patients.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213231720309204
Another quote, link below:
“Selenium (Se), a natural trace element, has a key and complex role in the immune system. It is well-documented that Se deficiency is associated with higher susceptibility to RNA viral infections and more severe disease outcome.”
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2020.00164/full
Here is an article from India that is easier to read, worth your time:
Indian COVID-19 patients have lower levels of selenium, researchers call for supplementation of general population – Study
11-Jan-2021 By Guan Yu Lim
COVID-19 patients from southern India had lower selenium serum level compared to healthy individuals, prompting industry players to call for its supplementation considering selenium’s well-known defence mechanism against infectious diseases.
So, I’ve learned that the nature of the soil in which food is grown has a great influence in how much selenium the people of a particular location enjoy in their diets. The following study talks about a comparison between Finland and Sweden (look, they are neighbors).
It turns out Finland did a lot of soil remediation to fix the scarcity of selenium in the food supply, and Sweden did no such thing. As a result, Sweden had TEN TIMES higher fatalities from Covid than Finland did.
Here is an article that summarizes many of the findings I’ve already cited. It’s not very technical, I think it is worth your time:
Lastly, here is a video by my favorite medical educator, Dr Mobeen Syed (“Dr Been and the Kool Beens” – his viewers).
Dr Been explains the mechanism – HOW does selenium have such an effect on the virus?
I would like to encourage you, Even with some technical terms you likely won’t understand (unless you have the scientific background), do watch it. You will be amazed how much you do understand. Dr Been is an artists and a communicator, first and foremost. (He sometimes shares his paintings at the end of his videos). His ability to clarify concepts with amusing drawings which he creates while on screen is phenomenal. Did I understand it all? No, but I got a good deal of understanding that I did not have before. (don’t let the words in the screenshot scare you, he explains them as he gets into it.)
By the way, you might be wondering how much selenium to take. Unfortunately, I could not find anything definitive. Dr Been actually goes over this lack of guidance in his video in an amusing way. So, I’m just taking one a day, of the bottle I have,
But what about Brazil nuts? It turns out these delicious nuts are the best source of selenium from food – by far! Brazil nuts are the true selenium rock stars! I tried to eat a couple or a few daily to get my supply of selenium over many months, but no matter where I bought the nuts, even organic ones, and even storing them in the FREEZER, I would get a rancid or moldy one (I could never tell what it was, perhaps both?) about 1 out of every 5. It was so bad (and the taste is so awful) that I had taken to eating my Brazil nuts over the trash can or over the sink, ready to spit them out if it was a bad one. Unfortunately, there is no smell, and nothing to see on the nut. You won’t discover the awful taste until you take a bite. So I parted ways with Brazil nuts.
Be well, do well, stay well!
