Selenium for healthier aging

Selenium

and biological aging

Bjorn Falck Madsen explores the benefits of selenium on biological aging…

HERE is the age on your birth

Tcertificate and then there is your biological age. The two do not necessarily match up. Scientists have discovered that the micronutrient selenium may help slow down your biological clock, and that observation is particularly interesting for people living in the UK and across Europe as their average selenium intake is comparatively low. In the UK, Selenium intakes have been falling over the past fifty years and it thought that the average selenium intake may be as low as 30–40 μg/d, or around half the recommended level.

Every year, there is one more candle in the birthday cake. We grow older and the aging process leaves visible footprints on the surface of our skin, and our vital organs are also affected. Still, some people look surprisingly young and fit despite their age, while others look a lot older than their peers.

Besides our actual age, we have what is known as a biological age that is determined by our physical and mental state. Biological aging does not necessarily go hand in hand with chronological aging. Our biological age is influenced by such factors as lifestyle, diet, genes, and the environment in which we live.

Selenium protects our telomeres

Certain nutrients have been seen to play a major role in our aging process. For instance, the trace element selenium, which is found in Brazil nuts, whole grains, fish, and shellfish.

Selenium is primarily known for its beneficial effect on the immune system, male fertility, and the thyroid function but now, a ChineseAmerican research project has demonstrated that the nutrient may also have an dampening impact on the speed at which we humans age. It turns out that higher dietary selenium intake is linked to greater telomere length, and telomeres are used to determine the body’s biological age.

Telomeres: Like protective plastic tips on shoelaces

You can compare telomeres to the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces that prevent the laces from fraying. All chromosomes in our cells are equipped with telomeres that get shorter every time a cell replicates. Once the telomeres are used up, the chromosomes unravel like a fraying shoelace, and the cell dies.

This loss of cells is one of the hallmarks of aging. Also, the death of cells can lead to the onset of chronic diseases that are typically associated with old age. Therefore, having

Europeans get too little selenium

The new study, which is published ahead of print in the February issue of Clinical Nutrition, is particularly relevant for Europeans, as the farmland in vast parts of Europe is low in selenium. This means that many Europeans have difficulty with getting enough of this vital nutrient through diet alone.

It is hardly a coincidence that other studies have shown a positive effect of giving selenium supplements to middle-aged and older men and women.

For example, the Swedish KiSel-10 study found that there was a 54% lower cardiovascular mortality rate, significantly higher quality of life, and improved heart muscle function in seniors, who were given tablets with highly bioavailable selenium yeast in combination with coenzyme Q10.

In this particular study, the scientists looked at other health markers but not telomere length. Still, it is plausible that the selenium tablets in this study also contributed positively to the biological age of the study participants.

longer telomeres means that it takes longer before your cells throw in the towel – and that is a sign of youth and vitality.

More selenium could increase the lifespan of your cells

Scientists from Guangdong Medical University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China studied 3,914 American adults and their diets. The participants were already participants in the so-called NHANES study (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) where American researchers looked at diet and its influence on health.

The Chinese researchers have simply borrowed study data from the American trial and looked specifically at selenium intake and how it affects telomere length.

They were able to measure that telomere length increased with increasing selenium intake. In other words, selenium had the potential to postpone the ageing at a cellular level.

There are different theories about what mechanisms are at play here, but various studies suggest that telomeres are vulnerable to inflammation and oxidative stress. Selenium has documented anti-inflammatory properties and also protects cells against oxidative stress, so this may be part of the explanation.

The KiSel-10 study

The team of scientists behind the groundbreaking KiSel-10 study has followed up the original trial with no less than 20 additional sub-studies. This included additional analyses of the more than 50,000 blood samples from the original study to see how selenium and coenzyme Q10 affect, among other things, markers of ageing.

They found some rather interesting examples of how these two nutrients can counteract biological processes that normally set in with increasing age. For example, they found that there was a lower tendency among the supplemented participants to develop so-called cardiac fibrosis, which is a thickening of the cardiac muscle that reduces its range of motion, thereby decreasing heart muscle strength.

Also, they could see that the people who took selenium and coenzyme Q10 had improved kidney function, showed less inflammation and oxidative stress, and appeared to have a better quality of life and physical and mental wellbeing in general than those in the group that got dummy pills.

Powerful antioxidants that support each other

Inflammation is a common thread in most aging processes. As we humans grow older, levels of inflammation in the body go up. One of the really devastating types of inflammation is known as chronic low-grade systemic inflammation and is tricky because we do not necessarily notice it.

Both selenium and coenzyme Q10 have powerful antioxidant properties and are therefore crucial for fighting inflammatory processes and oxidative stress. These two compounds appear to go well hand in hand, especially because they have a mutually dependent relationship.

The number of studies showing the importance of these two nutrients is constantly increasing, and a growing number of seniors have already incorporated the two compounds in their daily regimen for a healthier life with increased longevity. n

Source: “Association of dietary selenium intake with telomere length in middle-aged and older adults”, Clinical Nutrition, February 2020

i

BJØRN FALCK MADSEN is

a Danish-American health

and science writer with a keen interest in

micronutrients, disease prevention and

lifestyle management. He writes articles,

news bulletins and health notes for

various magazines and websites.

Seaweeds produced to a very high standard provide a natural source of all the minerals and trace elements, many deficient in large populations, rare vitamins, ideal ratios of Omega fatty acids, valuable antioxidants, and soluble dietary fiber.

For 25 years the Seagreens® project has been producing our native wild seaweeds specifically for human nutrition, organic from the start and from 2016 certified to the Nutritious Food Seaweed standard by BDA Certification.

Nutritious seaweeds are best used in tiny amounts - a few grams - as a daily ‘dietary supplement’. This has been their traditional use in Japan and elsewhere. Larger amounts, weekly or still less frequently, do not make their unique contribution to human nutrition.

Daily use is important because their most valuable micronutrients are not readily manufactured nor stored in the body. Seagreens makes it easy to include between a quarter of a teaspoon (1 gram) and a heaped teaspoon (4 grams) in the daily diet as dried granulated or chopped pieces or in vegetable capsules.

For 25 years, Seagreens research and production has brought the most nutritious seaweeds into the population daily diet in more than a dozen countries. Not only to provide sufficiency in ‘seaweed’ nutrients like iodine, but to address major health concerns including obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and dementia.

Seaweeds for human nutrition must meet rigorous safety and quality standards, their composition must be known and closely monitored, and the nutritional profile must be consistent, with no harmful contaminants or allergens. Seagreens® nutritional profiles are published at www.seagreens.co.uk/nutrition

Only in this way, can you know what you are eating, and nutritional therapists be confident of potential outcomes. Seagreens® are traceable to sustainable wild beds in the British Isles and Nordic region which are husbanded to conserve the native stock. Independent analysis of every harvested batch ensures the quality of every nutrition product.

Christmas Gift Cards and Vouchers are available from www.Seagreens.Shop.

Seagreens Ltd, The Warren Estate, Handcross, West Sussex RH17 6DX +44 (0)1444 400403 | post@seagreens.co.uk | www.seagreens.co.uk Administered in the interests of our Partners and Customers by Seagreens Trust