HEALTH CARE HYPOCRISY — WITHOUT SELENIUM THERE IS NO HEALTH CARE REFORM!

1 Bottle Of “Whole Food Grown” Selenium Per Month For Every Man, Woman And Child Alive Would Be A Better Insurance Policy Than Anything The Government Could Ever Come Up With.

“There are some antioxidant nutrients as potent as selenium, but none of them function in as many areas as selenium, nor are they as easily available in the food supply or as inexpensive to obtain as a supplement. That is why I say that hands down selenium is unequivocally the most protective of all nutrients.”   – Christopher Barr

 This issue of Crusador is one of the most crucially important we’ve ever published because there are so many critical health issues all converging simultaneously. With the battle for health care reform raging throughout the country it is imperative that people learn more about selenium and whole food nutrients that offer our country the greatest hope for a better health care system instead of a Soviet style drug, cut, burn and poison system that the Democrats are trying to impose upon us that over 85% of the country doesn’t want.

 The truth is the health care reform they are working on is really just sick care reform and end of life reform (as in how to get people to die younger and quicker). There is absolutely nothing in either the House or Senate Bills about how to prevent or treat disease naturally using whole food nutrition, naturopathy, homeopathy or all of the other natural healing modalities readily available.  Instead of trying to run a broken trillion dollar a year sick care system, the real answer should be to put serious emphasis on disease prevention. Just think of the cost savings alone, not to mention the better quality of life so many would experience. Wouldn’t it make a whole lot more sense to have a healthy nation where diseases are prevented?

 When it comes to disease prevention there is no single nutrient as important as selenium. The months of September and October hold great significance when it comes to disease prevention and disease awareness. September has been designated “Prostate Cancer Awareness Month” and October has been designated “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”.  

 According to the CDC prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men of all races and Hispanic origin populations. It is also the leading cause of cancer death among men of all races and Hispanic origin populations.

 With breast cancer, the CDC says that aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. It is the number one cause of cancer death in Hispanic women. It is the second most common cause of cancer death in white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native women.

 To learn more about how to prevent becoming a victim of prostate or breast cancer, Crusador editor Greg Ciola interviews Christopher C. Barr. Barr is recognized by many in the health and nutritional field as being one of the most knowledgeable experts on whole food nutrition in the world. In this particular interview we are going to focus primarily on selenium.  

 Crusador: Chris, you have done extensive research into the origins of these two cancers along with some incredible research on nutrition. I know we did a story a few years ago on selenium but we barely scratched the surface and so much more has come to light since that interview. Tell our readers why you are so passionate about the trace mineral selenium and why it is so important to our overall health, but especially to prostate and breast health?

 Well, Greg, if the essential nutrient selenium was only the most important cancer preventative of any substance whether nutritive, herbal or medical - and it is - that would be something about which to be passionate. It is also an excellent treatment option against almost any cancer. Add to that its phenomenal benefit to the immune system, cardiovascular system, thyroid, eyes and brain, as well as against arthritis and AIDS with a wealth of positive research dating back almost 100 years, contrasted against a documented deficiency state and long history of what I refer to as “the sad, sullen sage of selenium slander” - THAT is why I am SO passionate about this mighty element which performs grand feats with such small quantities. Oh, and selenium is also the key, foundational substance related to high blood pressure - a long and detailed story for another time. Recent studies have noted those with high blood pressure having a higher incidence of cancer which only makes sense since selenium is so important for both of these conditions.

 As to the prostate and breast health, well, let’s take them one at a time.

 Selenium is important for fertility and as such is concentrated in the male prostate IF there is enough in the body to concentrate. If selenium is a cancer preventative - and it is - then it stands to reason that having plenty of selenium would prevent prostate cancer.

 More than ten years ago a double-blind, clinical study of more than ten years duration published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) revealed a 63 per cent reduction in prostate cancer incidence among men taking 200 micrograms daily of selenium as compared to men not taking selenium. That is the highest cancer preventative result ever found in any study anywhere for any substance whether nutritive, herbal or medical. Oh, and a very, VERY important detail - the selenium used was of the 100 per cent, whole food, GROWN variety and not a man-made, synthesized compound.

 Also, the JAMA study revealed that total incidence of all cancers combined was reduced more than 50 per cent which is also the highest cancer preventative result ever found in any study anywhere for any substance whether nutritive, herbal or medical.

 My own personal sphere includes many who have eliminated prostatitis and reduced high PSAs to normal after addition of high doses of selenium.

 One man wrote to me several years ago that he had terminal prostate cancer and had undergone all the medical treatments available. He said his doctors told him there was nothing else to be done and that he was terminal. He noted that his PSA was more than 100! He then happened across an article of mine on selenium about its importance against cancer, and specifically for the prostate. There were no amounts mentioned but as he was terminal and given no hope he wrote later to me that he took 1,000 micrograms daily. Yes, Greg, you heard right, 1,000 micrograms daily of selenium. A month later the man wrote a thank you note to me after feeling so much better and having his PSA checked again. He noted that it was now in the normal range of less than 4 rather than the more than 100 of just a month before. I checked with some medical doctor friends as I had never heard of a PSA of more than 100 and they confirmed that was rare yet possible.

 You might wonder if selenium is such a great preventative against cancer whether it will help fight against cancer after it has developed. Well, personally, I have known countless individuals who have recovered from cancer after adding high dose selenium to their treatment regimen involving a variety of cancers including prostate, colon, blood, ovarian and breast cancers.

 Since selenium is important for fertility it should not be surprising that it was helpful with ovarian cancer. That was of a woman with Stage 3B ovarian cancer whose doctor was using standard medical treatments including surgery and chemotherapy even while informing his patient that he did not expect her to survive the cancer even with these treatments.

 The woman informed the doctor that she recently had begun extensive nutrition supplementation and he informed her that was a waste of time. He specifically told her that his treatment regimen was damaging to her normal immune system operation and that meant nutrition would be of no value until at least after cessation of the treatment regimen. She continued with her nutrients anyway. This included 200 micrograms of 100 per cent whole food selenium taken four times daily for a total of 800 micrograms daily as well as 100 micrograms of 100 per cent whole food GTF Chromium taken four times daily and three 100 per cent vegetal silica taken four times daily.

 Follow-up after completion of medical treatment protocol showed her dramatically improving to the surprise of the doctor. Some months later after routine follow-up the doctor told her there was no more cancer. The woman said the doctor seemed rather stunned and she asked if this meant that cancer was so much better that it couldn’t be found and he assured her that there was no cancer at all. He told her she was cured. She said that then she was in a state of disbelief as she has a medical background and hadn’t heard doctors use what she referred to as “the C word” (Cure) regarding cancer but rather the word “remission” in the past.

 This was some years ago and I see this woman very often to this day.

 Now as to breast health, it has been almost half a century since extensive documentation by a variety of researchers as to the selenium connection with breast cancer.

 Breast cancer was found in 27 industrialized nations to be inversely proportional to blood selenium levels. In plain English that means that the nation with the highest blood selenium level had the lowest breast cancer, the nation with the second highest blood selenium had the second lowest breast cancer and so on, while the nation with the lowest blood selenium had the highest breast cancer rate and the nation with the second lowest blood selenium level had the second highest breast cancer rate and so one. Oh, and Greg, the United States was in the bottom half of the blood selenium level nations with one of the highest breast cancer rates.

 Continuing research finally led Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer, M.D. to note that if every woman in America supplemented with selenium then breast cancer rates would dramatically decline in the space of a few short years. He noted a general selenium supplementation amount to be 200 micrograms daily though also noting that he considered 400 micrograms daily to be an optimum amount. (Schrauzer was a long time professor of medical chemistry at the University of San Diego School of Medicine and subsequently chaired two separate world conferences on selenium and cancer.)

 In more than 30 years since the remark noted above by Schrauzer there have been numerous studies with 200 micrograms daily (and/or more) demonstrating excellent results with regard to both prevention and treatment of cancers as well as to increased immune system response.

 Crusador: What percentage of the population is deficient in selenium and how could there be so much deficiency with this nutrient when so many people are taking multi-vitamins containing selenium?

 If you compare this nation to others where blood selenium levels are higher and breast cancer is lower then the entire nation would have to be considered generally deficient in selenium.

 Widespread deficiency of selenium in this nation shouldn’t be surprising. Whole grains are a primary source of selenium but bleached, refined white flour has 92 per cent of the selenium removed. A whopping 20 per cent of American intake is of that bleached, refined white flour according to recent government figures - and that makes white flour the largest component of Standard American Dietary choices (SAD choices indeed).

 Furthermore, Dr. Schrauzer in a recent study examined a national brand of bread throughout various regions across the nation from one end to another. He found wide disparities of selenium from one region to another even within the same bread brand from the same manufacturer.

 The great variation in selenium in food from one region to another is due to 1) wide disparities of selenium levels in soils across America; 2) lack of soil rotation and selenium replenishment in soil; and 3) use of sulfur amendments in soils - sulfur interferes with plant absorption of selenium.

 As for taking multi-vitamins containing selenium, the vast majority of these contain the very low activity, synthesized and man-made sodium selenite, selenomethionine or chelated seleniums. 100 per cent whole food, GROWN selenium varieties are rarely found in multi-vitamins though that form has been documented by independent, laboratory analysis to be significantly more bioavailable - in other words more readily available and used by the body.

 Finally, almost a decade ago official government reports reduced selenium recommendations to less than 50 micrograms daily based upon advice from the Institute of Medicine. (Now why would anybody in their right mind consider NUTRITION recommendations from the Institute of MEDICINE?) Consequently, primarily low dose, low activity seleniums make up the bulk of that available in multi-vitamins.

What would be surprising is if there was not so much deficiency of selenium in America.

 Crusador: Can you discuss a little history on selenium because it is very fascinating when I hear you get into its discovery in the early 1900’s to the politics behind suppressing the beneficial information?

 The history of selenium research dates back almost 100 years to 1911 as far as a successful treatment option for cancer and with even more evidence since then for both treatment, and even more so as a preventative against cancer.

 Renowned German scientist August von Wasserman reported successes with selenium as a treatment against cancer in 1911. British medical journals reported successes with selenium against breast cancer in the 1920s and 1930s.

 Drs. Clayton and Baumann reported heightened selenium intake dramatically reduced cancer incidence in the medical journal Cancer Research out of Chicago, Illinois in the 1940s.

 Researchers reported successes with selenium against blood cancers in the medical journal Blood, and the National Academy of Sciences reported higher cancer levels in areas that had low selenium levels in the diet - all in the 1950s.

 Drs. Chamberger and Frost reported that the higher the selenium levels in the diet, the lower the level of breast cancer in the Canadian Medical Association in the 1960s.

 Drs. Schrauzer, White and Schneider reported on importance of selenium to reduced breast cancer deaths in 27 countries in the 1970s.

 ”If a breast cancer patient has low selenium levels in her blood, her tendency to develop metastases (other tumors) is increased, her possibility for survival is diminished, and her prognosis in general is poorer than if she has normal levels,” said Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer in 1978.

 Since those 1970s selenium studies the number of new studies and articles on selenium are too numerous to even keep up with - and yet the overwhelming data about selenium’s benefit against cancer remains minimal.

 One Journal of Nutrition article postulated that selenium intake was likely to reduce cancer incidence with a listing of more than 100 scientific citations as supporting data in the early 1980s by Dr. Gerald Combs of Cornell University with several graduate student authors.

 Crusador:  A recent study suggested that the risk for melanoma was increased four-fold among women who took supplemental vitamins C and E, beta carotene, selenium and zinc. Then a newer study debunked this claim. What information can you share with our readers about this issue?

 First of all, Greg, all of the very few studies that indicate increased cancer incidence with supplementation always are with synthesized, man-made “nutrients” (so-called). Those are not the same as they are found in food or in grown varieties found in 100 per cent whole food supplements. I actually consider synthesized, man-made “nutrients” to be drugs myself.

 Secondly, after the 1996 publication of the multi-decade clinical, double-blind study on selenium and cancer that demonstrated the most phenomenal reduced cancer incidences ever - except for skin cancer (melanoma) - some of us got kind of giddy about the great successes with every other cancer and just assumed that selenium wouldn’t make a difference with skin cancer.

 Then just last month an NIH study noted a dramatic reduction in skin cancer incidence related to higher blood selenium levels. Why the apparent contradiction? The key is in the minute details.

 The study published in 1996 prescreened test subjects specifically in low selenium areas around the country and accepted only those with very low selenium levels. Those receiving selenium - and the subsequent excellent results against cancers with the exception of skin cancer - received 200 micrograms daily. That was considered a high end of normal amount in the 80s and 90s. Today that is considered a very high amount though it actually isn’t all that much - especially when you consider the full body of work on selenium.

 Giving 200 micrograms daily to one very low in selenium may get them near or to normal blood levels - for Americans though nowhere near other countries with higher levels and less cancer. It would not be sufficient to get them to normal blood levels.

 The NIH study released last month showed that those with high levels of selenium had a dramatically reduced level of skin cancer compared to those with low levels of selenium. In other words, the 1996 published study recipients didn’t have high enough selenium levels to register advantageous against skin cancer.

 Crusador: As important as selenium is at helping prevent cancer, there are other minerals like chromium, magnesium and silica that most people are also deficient in as well. Can you bridge all of this together for our readers?

 Indeed, there is a very strong bridge with regard to chromium, selenium and silicon when it comes to cancer.

 In my book on chromium I addressed why a deficiency of that most important of all nutrients was a contributing factor to cancer even while noting in the book “there has been no investigation in this regard”. Yet it made perfect sense.

 In a nutshell, 1) chromium helps maintain genetic integrity of the cell so that an absence of chromium would contribute to genetic abnormalities and anomalies leading to more cancer; and 2) even more to the point is that cancer thrives on free sugar in a completely different manner than a healthy cell makes use of sugar - and a lack of chromium results in higher blood sugar levels.

 The year after my book a JAMA cover story stirred the medical world with a large study revealing that cancer incidence rose dramatically in accordance with rises in blood sugar.

 If they’d read my book they’d already have known that.

 Since that time more medical research has revealed the strength and surety of this simple truth.

 My book provides more detail. That is not a shameless promotion of my book because if you haven’t read it yet you really do need to read it - and buy copies to pass out to family, friends, and even acquaintances and strangers!

 Only a few days ago U.S. researchers noted discovery of how cancer uses sugar in a study published in Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences. The authors noted that the exceedingly higher need for sugar by cancer cells has been known since 1923. They proposed searching for chemical means to interrupt use of sugar by cancer - in other words a patentable, money-making drug. It was also noted that this will take quite some time. How about making sure chromium levels are optimal in the body thereby rendering less free sugar available for use by cancer? This is inexpensive and has so many more positive benefits as well.

 The importance of selenium against cancer is noted already in this article although there is so much more if we had the time. For instance, selenium causes the body to produce Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) which causes apoptosis (self destruction of cancer cells). However, if you take statin drugs that impedes the production of CoQ10 from selenium.

 The essential mineral nutrient silicon (or silica) is the most important element for tissue strength by way of collagen - the connective tissue that literally holds us together.

 Cancer emits an enzyme that breaks down collagen in order to make room for it to grow and spread out. Nutritive silica strengthens collagen making it more difficult for cancer to grow and spread. In one instance personally known to me a fast growing tumor in a hand stopped growing after intake of a 100 per cent vegetal silica supplement. In that individual the addition thereafter of selenium was followed by softening and shrinking of the tumor.

 The three items most absent from human nutrition due to removal during food processing and dietary changes of the last century are chromium, selenium and silicon. The processing of whole grains to white flour removes 91 per cent of the chromium, 92 per cent of the selenium, and 95 per cent of the silicon. Reduced consumption of dark leafy greens is also a problem as that is the other primary source of silicon in the diet.

 Oh, and about 75 per cent of magnesium is removed by refining whole grains so that is an important issue also for a great many reasons though not so much regarding cancer.

 Crusador: You have been asked to speak at the annual Cancer Control Society convention in early September about selenium and cancer. Tell our readers a little more about this organization and why this is a prestigious honor.

 The Cancer Control Society is a clearinghouse for information on cancer prevention and treatment choices beyond the slash, burn and poison options of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy that people are limited to by mainstream modern medicine.

 This year will be the 37^th annual Cancer Control Society convention at which there are more requests to speak than there are openings to speak so I am very honored to have been asked to speak on selenium and cancer.

 After a lengthy and detailed review of materials I submitted to the Cancer Control Society one of the co-founders said to me, “Everyone with cancer should be taking selenium.”

 Crusador: What other new studies or research have you come across on selenium that is worth covering?

 Well, the past year has seen new chapters on the sad, sullen saga of selenium slander.

 Let me preface my remarks by noting that the magnificent 1996 study on selenium against cancer already referenced earlier initially greeted America at large on Christmas Day of 1996 with a message of cheer and hope that disclosed the brightest light against cancer ever found with use of the mineral selenium - a nutrient called a trace element due to being needed in such a tiny amount. The story made the front page on newspapers across America.

 ”We do not recommend supplements,” was the stern greeting this study received from Dr. Peter Greenwald, then as now director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control.

 Yes, the man in charge of cancer prevention studies for the United States has a predetermined bias against nutrition supplements.

 ”We do not recommend supplements” is the Satan Clause.

 Well, the worse-than-the-Grinch Greenwald made a grab for that wonderful selenium treat with a dastardly trick just in time for Halloween last year.

 You see, Greg, the first action of the NCI after the 1996 study was inaction - at least after an initial reaction of nay saying the study.

 NCI tried to ignore selenium hoping the subject would go away. Ignorance has been a primary part of the NCI for decades.

 As selenium continued to garner attention for its cancer prevention possibilities the pharma pholk at NCI took an old page for their anti-nutrient playbook.

 You see, Greg, decades ago a strong link was established for high levels of the nutrient beta carotene in food against lung cancer in a long term study.

 Another study was set up - and set up is the operative phrase here - utilizing a man-made, synthesized form of beta carotene rather than a 100 per cent whole food form of beta carotene.

 There is a difference - and your body knows the difference - between 100 per cent whole food nutrients and man-made, synthetic varieties of nutrients (so-called).

 Man-made forms of nutrients look different under the microscope than the forms that are grown in food - formed only as The Almighty can form them through (and with) life.

 Man-made forms of nutrients also act differently than the 100 per cent whole food nutrients.

 Nutrients formed through life processes are always superior to those made by man. Usually there is a significant difference. Sometimes the difference is small. On occasion the man-made variety may even cause harm.

 The beta carotene study that utilized the man-made variety was stopped early because preliminary results revealed a notable increase in lung cancer among those taking it rather than a decrease in lung cancer as had been noted in the study with dietary beta carotene.

 The experts (so called) determined that beta carotene could be dangerous as it increased lung cancer. If that were the case then healthful eating habits would be comparable to cigarette smoking for cancer risk.

 The facts of the matter were that synthetic beta carotene was the problem and not the actual nutrient beta carotene. Tragically, man-made varieties of nutrients make up the vast majority of all supplements in the marketplace.

 The NCI concocted a selenium study using a man-made variety of selenium rather than using a 100 per cent whole food selenium such as that which demonstrated the tremendous success of the previous study. The form of selenium used by NCI has been found to have a very insignificant antioxidant activity - especially when compared to 100 per cent whole food selenium such as was used in the successful study. High dose use of vitamin E was also added to this study.

 One of the first things I learned in my selenium studies dating back to the 1970s was that if it was combined with high dose vitamin E usage then the antioxidant activity of the selenium was greatly reduced. So this new NCI study utilized a variety of selenium with low antioxidant activity that was then mixed with high dose vitamin E which further diminishes antioxidant activity of selenium. 

 Oh, and the vitamin E used was a man-made, synthetic variety.

 So the new study was stopped just prior to last Halloween years short of completion reportedly because no positive benefit had been seen. However, benefits are not likely to show up in a short period of time.

 There are many other deficiencies in this latest study. I’ve seen fewer holes in Swiss cheese than in this NCI prostate cancer study with selenium and vitamin E.

 Ever since the new NCI selenium (and vitamin E) study was started only a few years ago I have said you don’t have to wait for results of this one. I could already tell you that they were not going to have the success of the previous study due to poor quality supplements and poor study design. The only way this study was well designed was for failure.

Also, I had noted that I wouldn’t be surprised if they somehow ascribed some harm from selenium. Sure enough the NCI noted a very small increase in diabetes among those using selenium though they admitted it was so small a difference as to be inconsequential and “may be due to chance”. Yet they hung the suspicion out very prominently anyway.

 So, call me a prophet.

 The very successful selenium cancer study of more than a decade ago was dismissed by Dr. Peter Greenwald who noted multiple studies of selenium and cancer would be necessary before coming to any conclusions. Yet he is now satisfied to conclude selenium is of no value after only ONE other study - and an exceedingly flawed study at that.

 With friends like Dr. Peter Greenwald and his NCI cohorts who needs enemies?

 To borrow from an old and well used cliché, Yes, Virginia, Dr. Peter Greenwald’s “We do not recommend supplements” is the Satan Clause.

 Then less than two months ago, the news media, mainstream medical academia and government officials ballyhooed that selenium might cause cancer. The unholy trinity strikes again. They cited a new study as their proof text.

 The new study was first of all a small study such as is usually discredited due to size by the powers that be if such a study promotes nutrition.

 Secondly, the study was on people who already had cancer - prostate cancer to be specific. So you can hardly prove that taking selenium causes cancer by examining people who already have cancer.

 Thirdly, this small study on people who already have cancer found only an increased incidence of a more aggressive prostate cancer with higher selenium levels BUT only if they had one particular variant of a specific gene.

 On that basis the warning was sounded against use of any selenium supplementation so as not to increase cancer.

 That’s getting pretty thin - and it gets thinner.

 There was an equally great reduction of that more aggressive prostate cancer with higher selenium levels if the individuals had another particular variant of the same specific gene.

 So the very worst that can logically (not to mention honestly) deduce is if you have prostate cancer then check to see if you have that one specific gene variant, and if you DO then you may want to consider not taking selenium supplementation.

 Funny how this study received a lot of airplay in the news but the study only a few weeks later from the NIH of the tremendous reduction in skin cancer among those with high selenium levels received no airplay in the news at all.

 One of the most phenomenal studies of selenium and cancer has been covered up for more than 25 years now.

Dr. Robert C. Donaldson, an oncologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Saint Louis, Missouri discovered that cancer patients did indeed have very low blood selenium levels as indicated in the scientific literature. Subsequently, Dr. Donaldson utilized 100 per cent whole food, grown selenium to raise blood levels of selenium in terminal cancer patients.

 Donaldson found tumor regression and reduction of pain in every one of 140 terminal cancer patients who had their selenium blood levels significantly raised. So at the very least there was an increased quality of life in all terminal cancer patients.

 However, there is more … so much more.

 All 140 terminal cancer patients had been certified terminal by a minimum of two physicians each and given less than one year to live. Of these there were eight (8) with lung cancer given less than six (6) months to live. After one (1) year four (4) of those were still alive.

 There were 103 of the 140 terminal cancer patients still alive four (4) years later. Some advanced cancers went into remission.

 Dr. Donaldson found that none of these reached normal blood selenium levels at less than 400 micrograms daily of 100 per cent whole food selenium and he cited that was rare. Donaldson noted that it usually took from 1,000 to 2,000 micrograms daily for some time to achieve elevated blood selenium levels which then were maintained with lesser intakes.

 One peculiar case took 2,700 micrograms daily for two months followed by 5,000 micrograms daily for six weeks before reaching normal levels. So people with cancer should be at the very least utilizing selenium as an adjunct to whatever therapy they are utilizing with exceptions only few and far between.

 For instance, people on high dose selenium through their chemotherapy often report that they have much less discomfort and side effects normally associated with chemotherapy. Cancer studies very routinely find better results among selenium users on chemotherapy than among those not using selenium.

 Also, selenium protects against the damaging effects of radiation so there is practically no reason at all not to take selenium no matter the choice of treatment one makes for cancer.

 That reminds me, Greg, that just today there was a news story about dramatically higher radiation exposures in the young though also noting higher radiation exposures in all ages according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

 The NEJM study noted a more than sevenfold increase of radiation in those born after 1980 above and beyond the increased amounts found since that time in those born before then. Also women were found more radiated than men with mammograms making up only a portion of the increase.

 This is yet one more justification for increased selenium supplementation to all ages - that and also seriously rethinking common uses of x-ray.

 Crusador: In our May/June edition we ran a story by Robert Scott Bell on the swine flu scam. He noted the importance of selenium for the overall immune system and said it was a very important nutrient everyone should be taking in preparation for a wide scale flu outbreak.  He stated that selenium is critical to keep glutathione production high so that liver pathways of elimination remain open and optimal.  What insights can you share with our readers regarding selenium and the immune system?

 Well Greg, we are way long, so let me make this one quick. There are very few things that strengthen immune system action comparably to selenium and I have never found any that surpass its benefit to and for the immune system.

 Crusador:  How do you recommend people to take selenium?       

 First of all the right form of selenium is as important as the right amount of selenium - and maybe even more important. The best and most dramatic documented results of selenium supplementation are with 100 per cent whole food GROWN selenium. Sometimes people think they will save money with other less expensive forms. However, when you equate the cost to actual usage in the body, it would cost more to take enough of the least expensive seleniums to get similar results and at an increased risk of toxicity reactions.

 The reason for selenium toxicity is due to accumulation of unused selenium. The non-whole food seleniums are poorly used so on top of having less benefit there is also more accumulation that can lead to toxicity.

 So first only use 100 per cent whole food GROWN selenium supplements - to do otherwise is to be penny-wise and pound foolish.

 Next, an amount of 200 micrograms daily would seem to be a baseline for use based upon initial recommendations made decades ago by Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer, one of the foremost experts on selenium and cancer. This amount has been borne out by extensive research in numerous studies since the 1970s - provided that is with 100 per cent whole food GROWN selenium.

 Dr. Schrauzer actually noted that 400 micrograms daily was likely a more optimum amount for supplementary purposes. Traditional Japanese diets at that time were documented to contain almost 600 micrograms daily just in their food consumption. The Japanese were also found to have the highest blood selenium levels and lowest cancer levels. American diets were found to contain only about 100 micrograms daily in their food consumption so supplementation with 400 micrograms daily wouldn’t even rise to the level for selenium intake of a traditional Japanese diet.

That amount was further borne out by the research of Dr. Robert Donaldson who found 400 micrograms daily to be the minimum amount needed for terminal cancer patients to restore normal American selenium levels. However, remember that Dr. Donaldson found success at that level to be rare while noting that usually it took 1,000 micrograms or more daily.

 My extensive personal observations through four decades concur with the finding of these and other experts.

 So it would be difficult to argue reasonably against a minimum selenium supplementation of 200 micrograms daily for any American. If cancer is in the picture then selenium supplementation with 400 micrograms daily would be equally difficult to argue reasonably against as just a starting point.

 Crusador: How many Brazil nuts would someone have to eat to obtain the recommended daily amount of selenium and don’t you think that would be a better way to obtain selenium than taking a supplement?

 Eating enough Brazil nuts to get enough selenium has pretty much been relegated to fairy tale status in recent years. Once upon a time - many years ago - 100 grams of Brazil nuts was found to contain 800 micrograms of selenium. That represented a hearty handful of Brazil nuts so a small handful of daily Brazil nuts would do you pretty well for selenium if you didn’t mind the redundancy of consumption of a pretty fair amount of Brazil nuts every, single day.

 In recent years that hefty handful of 100 grams of Brazil nuts has dropped from 800 to only about 100 micrograms of selenium. Remember that I noted earlier that there is less selenium in the soil due to lack of replenishment, and also sulfur soil amendments now commonly added interfere with selenium uptake by plants. Brazil nuts still are far and away the highest source of selenium amongst common foods but are no longer practical as a sole or even primary selenium source.

 Crusador: How could Obama and the Democrats be pushing so hard to reform health care and act like they are genuinely concerned about quality health care in America but completely ignore selenium and all the other whole food nutrients you write about?

 It comes down to a fundamental belief in superiority of drug based, hospital-oriented medicine for basic health care that was lobbied for heavily with the 1910 Flexner report - one that reeked with conflict of interest, and that was quickly embraced by government officials at that time and continuing to this day.

 This belief is easily demonstrable as erroneous if they really wanted to examine the facts of the matter. That is the short answer. It would take something more along the likes of the length of this very lengthy interview to more appropriately answer that question.

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