Cholesterol Levels

Admin Posts : 813

Taking too
much selenium, an essential mineral touted for immune boosting and
anti-cancer benefits, could increase cholesterol levels by 10 percent
and, as a result, raise the risk of heart disease, a new study suggests.

The
findings, published online November 10 in the Journal of Nutrition, a
publication of the American Society for Nutrition, warns consumers
against taking too much selenium until more research is done to gain a
better understanding of the risks and benefits of selenium
supplementation.

Study co-author, Dr. Saverio Stranges of the
Warwick Medical School in Warwick, England, said the findings of this
observational study are "consistent with the findings of earlier
clinical work," which have suggested an association between elevated
blood levels of selenium and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and
high cholesterol.

Selenium is a mineral found in grains, nuts,
fish and meats. Foods grown and raised in selenium rich environments
like the United States have higher natural selenium content than those
grown in selenium poor areas, like China.

Not getting enough
selenium can contribute to heart disease, an underactive thyroid gland,
and a weakened immune system. But, selenium deficiency is rare in
healthy populations like the United States where a greater threat may
be posed by getting too much.

"If you get more selenium
than what you need ... there are no additional benefits and actually
there is the potential for adverse effects," such as an increased risk
of diabetes or high cholesterol, Stranges noted in a telephone
interview with Reuters Health.

As in the U.S., dietary
supplement use is on the rise in the U.K. Stranges and colleagues
wanted to know if the findings of previous selenium studies in the U.S.
held true for Britain, where people are exposed to less selenium in
their environment.

The research team analyzed the 2000 and 2001
diets and health records of more than a thousand British adults.
Participants gave blood and answered questions about smoking, drinking,
exercise at work and at play, prescription drug use, supplement use,
income, and education. Information about physical characteristics such
as weight and height was also gathered.

The researchers stopped
short of claiming too much selenium causes a boost in cholesterol but
wrote that the association between selenium levels in the blood and
total cholesterol "was strong," and consistent with earlier studies.

Cholesterol levels, the researchers found, rose in tandem with blood selenium concentrations.

The
researchers caution that the benefits of antioxidants, like selenium,
have been aggressively marketed, despite "a lack of definitive evidence
on their efficacy for cancer and other chronic disease prevention."

"We
believe that the widespread use of selenium supplements or of any other
strategy that artificially increases selenium status above the level
required is unwarranted at the present time," Stranges said in a
prepared statement.

Member Posts : 750

Nice sharing...

Chinese zodiac : Posts : 101

nice sharing