WHICH FORM OF SELENIUM
SHALL I USE? (AS OF 1981)

NOTE (Sept 2000): The following page was written in the early 1980s and was the best information available at the time and allowed Wholesale Nutrition to decide which forms of selenium to offer the public. But in Sept 2000, after decades of global research, Wholesale Nutrition is pleased to be the first company to offer SeleniumMC. It's 2 to 3 times more effective against cancer than any other form. Dr Julian Spallholz, of Texas Tech, perfected and patented the procedure for synthesizing SeleniumMC. It was he who chose Wholesale Nutrition to first offer this new form of selenium to the public.

Because of a dispute between the selenium-yeast and the sodium selenite advocates, we asked a small group of selenium experts (Durk Pearson, Sandy Shaw, Julian Spallholz, Herb Boynton, and Gerhardt Schrauzer) to brainstorm the problem for us in a hotel room in Los Angeles back in 1981. After over 5 hours they reached the conclusion that Nutrition 21's specially-grown, organically-bound, high-selenium yeast was the best source. Its stability in the presence of vitamin C and its low toxicity were major considerations. But since 1981, the scene has changed: Firstly, Candida Albicans has been recognized as a highly debilitating yeast infection of almost epidemic proportions that's being implicated in the cause of many of today's maladies. Thus, many persons are being told to avoid yeast products, including selenium yeast. This is all completely incorrect* (see footnote), but this belief is so widespread that a yeast free selenium is being demanded. Some persons, however, may have a bona fide allergy to nutritional yeast, and their demands have merit. Secondly, two new good sources of selenium are now marketed. They are sodium selenate (that's ATE, not ITE), and selenomethionine (SM), a natural constituent of Nutrition 21's selenium yeast. And thirdly, Durk Pearson strongly suggested we should have another look at the selenium controversy. At this point we asked a trace element consultant (Tom Nufert) to resolve this whole problem. His task: to determine which forms of selenium are best, and why. The gist of his report follows:

One problem with sodium selenITE is that you can't take it when you take vitamin C, zinc, copper, and other minerals because it combines or interacts in a manner such that the selenium becomes useless. Sodium selenATE, however, doesn't combine readily with minerals and doesn't react with vitamin C! It's converted in the body into a useful form of selenium. Selenate is found in alkaline waters which are natural sources of selenium. Animal studies have been performed which show selenate is a useful form to take orally. One question we asked the experts was just which forms of selenium are best administered intravenously to humans. This is important because here is a worst-case illustration of potential nutrient interactions (with vitamin C in the blood, for instance), as well as a worst case regarding safety. The experts agreed that sodium selenate is the best candidate for I.V. use (though it must be added that I.V. supplementation of trace elements is only recently being considered in medical practice). There's been some question about the mutagenic and carcinogenic aspects of selenium salts. Sodium selenITE is considered by a large number of researchers to be safe enough to give to humans. It's mutagenic in bacterial assay (a sensitive test for carcinogenicity at greater levels of intake). Yet in numerous studies, at much lower levels of intake, it prevented or even inhibited tumor growth! Now it has been found that sodium selenATE is just one tenth as mutagenic as sodium selenITE, equally beneficial, and yet about 40% less toxic. Therefore, a prudent, safe, convenient, and economical way to supplement with selenium is to take a combination of SM and sodium selenATE. In conclusion, we've decided to offer two forms of selenium:

(1) - Our standard Nutrition 21 Selenium Yeast, in 50 mcg (microgram) tablets. If you have no yeast allergy problem, this is your best form.

(2) - Our new formula also contains 50 mcg of elemental selenium. There are 40 mcg as sodium selenATE, and 10 mcg as selenomethionine. This form is yeast-free and is hypoallergenic.

Neither form interacts adversely with other nutrients (such as vitamin C, zinc, copper, etc.) when taken either with supplements or with meals. Both forms contain 5 mg of B2 and 2 mg of B6 per tablet to aid in the absorption and utilization of the selenium. Both forms are relatively non-toxic. The choice is yours.

* Candida Albicans is a living, growing yeast. Nutritional yeasts such as our Nutrition 21 Selenium Yeast is quite dead and can never cause infections. There's no information whatsoever to suggest that either brewers or nutritional yeasts have any tie-in with Candida Albicans.

WHOLESALE NUTRITION, PO BOX 3345, SARATOGA CA 95070 Fax: 408 867 6236 Email: wn@nutri.com Tollfree: 800 325 2664 Foreign: +1 408 871 9519

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