A team of Swiss scientists has announced that changes in both the climate and soil can lead to lower selenium levels in the soil, especially in Europe. Selenium is a vital micronutrient that plays a role in many protein systems in the body. Read on and see what an organic selenium can do for you.
It is estimated that about one billion people worldwide receive too little of the important micronutrient selenium. The problem may become worse, Swiss scientists believe, and base their statements on climate change calculations, showing how changes in both climate and soil could reduce the selenium content of crops in the future.
Soil samples analyzes
The research team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology performed a thorough series of soil sample analyzes that were taken in the period 1994 to 2016. Here they could follow how the selenium content in the upper soil layer changed over time. By comparing the earth's selenium content against a total of 26 different environmental variables in some model calculations, researchers could see how the selenium content of the soil would change until the end of this century.
It is especially affecting Europe
The researchers estimate in their report that the problem of insufficient selenium intake may worsen as climate change reduces the natural selenium content in agricultural land.
About 66 percent of the cultivated areas will lose their selenium, they assess, pointing out that it in particular seems to affect Europe and parts of the United States.
By the very nature, this will aggravate the relatively low selenium intake, which currently affects approximately every seventh person worldwide.
Addition of selenium to fertilizers
The big question is how to ensure that people around the world get enough selenium to maintain good health.
In Finland, in the mid-1980s, the government introduced a law on mandatory selenium enrichment of all fertilizers, and they managed to increase the population's selenium status in this way, but there are disadvantages.
Only part of the selenium that is spread out with the fertilizer is absorbed by the plants, and since selenium already is a scarce resource (experts estimate that nature's selenium reserves will be used up within the next 40 years), it may be a good idea to consider strategies that make better use of the limited selenium amount.
Selenium supplement is a better option
A more sensible approach is to take tablets with organic selenium, which is the source of selenium the body most easily absorbs and utilize.
Pharma Nord's organic selenium (SelenoPrecise) can document that 88.7 percent of the selenium content from the yeast is absorbed into the body and 74 percent of the amount of selenium taken up is retained in the body, which means that there is good bioavailability.
This is how elderly kept themselves healthy
A few years ago, a group of Swedish researchers published a study that showed that older men and women who took SelenoPrecise daily together with another preparation (Bio-Quinon Active Q10) had an easier time keeping healthy than older people receiving placebo pills.
The study, called KiSel-10, is published in the journal International Journal of Cardiology in 2013.
The selenium-dependent proteins
The body contains 25-30 different enzymes, called selenoproteins. These can not function normally without the selenium. With SelenoPrecise, you can add selenium to the body's selenoproteins, thus helping to maintain a normal functions of:
- The immune system
- The thyroid gland (metabolism)
- Cell Protection
- Reproduction (fertility)
We humans have to have a certain amount of selenium daily in order to saturate these selenoproteins and make sure they work normally. Experts do not quite agree on how much we need, but there seems to be a generel agreement on a daily supply of around 70-100 micrograms per day.
