Selenium yeast, produced by fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a selenium-rich media, is a recognized source of organic food-form selenium.

Contents

Uses

Selenium is physiologically essential and may also offer a protective effect against several degenerative diseases. The organic form of selenium provided by selenium yeast has been shown to differ in bioavailability and metabolism compared with inorganic (e.g., selenate, selenite) forms of dietary selenium. Dietary supplementation using selenium yeast has been associated with increased ability to counteract oxidative stress.Furthermore, selenium yeast has been used in a wide range of studies aimed at examining the importance of selenium status in the incidence and progression of a variety of infectious and degenerative diseases.

  • Cancer. Although selenium is promoted for its claimed anti-cancer effect, there is no good evidence of it being helpful in treating or preventing cancer, or with helping alleviate the side-effects of cancer treatment. Dietary supplementation with selenium yeast has been used to study the effects of selenium status and the risk of developing cancers or precancerous lesions.
  • Viral infection. Findings of increased viral virulence in selenium-deficient hosts support the need for further investigation into the interaction between host nutrition and viral evolutionary processes. Certain viral diseases have been shown to mutate more rapidly in selenium-deficient hosts producing more virulent viruses. This etiology has been demonstrated for both the Coxsackie B virus (associated with a Se-deficiency-related cardiomyopathy known as Keshan disease) and the influenza virus. High selenium yeast supplementation (200 μg/d) was evaluated in a 9-month double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in HIV-positive adult men and women. Daily supplementation was found to suppress progression of HIV-1 viral burden and provide indirect improvement to CD4 cell counts. (Selenium status diminishes with HIV disease progression; low selenium status has been shown to be a predictor of HIV-related mortality. Selenium deficiency has also been linked with increased infectiousness of people with HIV-1

Benefits

Your body depends on selenium to produce thyroid hormones and glutathione peroxidases, which are important antioxidants. If you have a selenium deficiency, taking selenium yeast ensures your body can continue to synthesize these essential substances.

Selenium supports the immune system by boosting the activity of white blood cells that fight infection and disease, according to a review in the scientific journal Endocrine in December 2014.

Selenium intake has been associated with lowering cholesterol, preventing cancer and treating Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, but research to date has produced inconclusive results.

Cautions

Whether selenium exerts a beneficial or harmful effect depends on your current health status. For example, taking selenium yeast may prevent diseases such as diabetes if you’re deficient in the mineral, but taking selenium when you don’t need it may have the opposite effect and increase the risk, reports a review in Free Radical Biology and Medicine in December 2013.

Interactions

None are recorded.

Other names

n/a

References

Source: LiveStrong, http://www.livestrong.com/article/229192-what-is-selenium-yeast/

Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium_yeast

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