I should do a study on chromium and as a result of that study, I told you that I am throwing all my chromium away into the trash. It’s all gone now. Because chromium supplements are quite carcinogenic, according to that study.
One of the promises of chromium is lowering blood sugar, which is in some doubt anyway. However, here is a new study on selenium, and selenium has a long history of effective and safe supplementation.
This study shows that there can be good research coming out of places like Iran. Thankfully, science crosses all borders. It may not cross other planets, but I suppose in time it will. Anyway, in this study, they showed that:
Selenium supplementation substantially lowered insulin levels in diabetics.
A 200 μicrogram/day selenium supplementation among patients with [type 2 diabetes] and [coronary heart disease] resulted in a significant decrease in insulin
Insulin levels were cut almost in half.
Not only that, but the study tracked all sorts of inflammation markers.
As you may already know, high sensitivity CRP is one of the most important markers of inflammation.
And this marker of inflammation was dramatically lower after a few weeks on a modest amount of selenium.
But is this amount of selenium safe?
According to WebMD.com,
In studies to determine if selenium could aid in prostate cancer prevention, men took 200 micrograms daily.
The safe upper limit for selenium is 400 micrograms a day in adults. Anything above that is considered an overdose.
So it would seem that 200 µg is quite safe. Oh, and about that study that Web M.D. mentions about prostate cancer?
Almost 1000 men were given selenium supplements and then followed up for almost 7 years. These men were given 200 micrograms also.
Not only was the incidence of prostate cancer slashed (4 cases with the selenium group, 16 cases with the untreated group) but,
There were significant health benefits also for the other secondary endpoints of total cancer mortality, and the incidence of total, lung and colorectal cancer.
So it would seem that for both men and women, selenium supplementation may be worth thinking about.
How to get more selenium
Brazil nuts contain a lot of selenium. One or two Brazil nuts per day can supply this amount of selenium.
Or you can take a yeast extract of selenium, which seems to be a safe way of taking selenium. Tablets with 200 micrograms are easily available.
Citations
Selenium Supplementation Affects Insulin Resistance and Serum hs-CRP in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26743526
Selenium
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/supplement-guide-selenium
Decreased incidence of prostate cancer with selenium supplementation: results of a double-blind cancer prevention trial.
http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/9634050
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