Vitamin E & Selenium

If you are thoughtful enough to supplement or use selenium for a mainline cancer treatment, it’s good to include a high quality vitamin E product. There are many diseases that can be aided or prevented by sufficient doses of selenium and vitamin E. Cancer is among the most notable for both nutrients, as they both increase the production of cancer-fighting enzymes. Vitamin E has also proved successful in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Vitamin E is also essential to heart health. The recommended intake of vitamin E can severely reduce the risk of a heart attack.

Research has shown that vitamin E has some benefit in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. In a recent analysis of clinical data presented at a national geriatrics meeting in 2009 it was reported that combining vitamin E with an anti-inflammatory compound provided additional benefit in treatment, over and above the benefit seen from vitamin E alone. Because selenium is a natural anti-inflammatory, and because both vitamin E and selenium have a protective effect on brain cells, researchers have hypothesized that combining it with vitamin E may help treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Both selenium and vitamin E help maintain healthy body functions aside from disease prevention. Severe deficiencies can cause life-threatening muscle and nervous-system diseases. As critical antioxidants, they protect the immune-system cells from suffering “friendly fire” damage as they go about their work, especially areas that have a high reliance on oxygen-fueled metabolism, like in the heart, muscle and brain. They also protect the red blood cells from damage during exercise. Even reproduction can be negatively affected by the inadequate intake of vitamin E and selenium, and these nutrients are an important part of detoxification systems.

All vitamins and minerals identified as “essential” have critical roles to play, but what makes vitamin E and selenium particularly important is how likely deficiencies are in today’s civilized world.

$26.94 for 120 capsules

UNIQUE OPTIMUM E COMPLEX by A. C. Grace Company

Above is the best vitamin E product I have found.

There are six major types of vitamin E supplements on the market and they are not all alike. On this companies site they say that, “Vitamin E activity doesn’t come from one single molecule, but from a family of related molecules called tocopherols and tocotrienols. There are four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta), of which only alpha-tocopherol was recognized in the 1960s, by the government, to have vitamin E activity, which is measured in International Units (IUs). Consequently, because of that decision, only the alpha-tocopherol portion of a vitamin E product is considered ‘vitamin E,’ so the I.U. content of vitamin E supplements generally refers to only alpha-tocopherol.”

Research shows that maximum benefits are achieved when tocotrienols are taken separately from tocopherols and it is suggested they be taken before the evening meal since tocopherols have been shown to inhibit assimilation of tocotrienols in the body.[1] Tocotrienols help maintain healthy cholesterol levels, may also contribute to improving vascular and cardiometabolic integrity, help support a healthy cardiovascular system, and help maintain normal blood glucose levels. Tocotrienols work synergystically with tocopherols. Tocotrienols from the A. C. Grace company are also available.

$36.00 for 60 capsules

UNIQUE Tocotrienol (tocopherol-free)

This is a formula from a very good company in New Hampshire and their products are widely available in healthfood stores. Though I now recommend the SelenoPrecise and Brazil nuts one can never go wrong with Megafood, which uses the same type of process that SelenoPrecise uses.

[1]                                                                                              http://www.acgrace.com/unique-e-vitamin-e/unique-e-tocotrienols/