Originally published February 28 2008
Use Selenium and Zinc to Ward Off Cancer and Boost Immunity
by Richard Stossel
(NaturalNews) Cancer, a word that no one wants to think about or talk about and people dread hearing, is unfortunately affecting more and more Americans than ever before. The lies of the mainstream media, that we're "winning the war on cancer", are based on statistical nonsense. More and more people are getting cancer then ever before.
Two powerful minerals that are starting to get more and more attention have a potent effect on preventing and even reversing cancer and other diseases brought on by nutritional deficiencies. These minerals are selenium and zinc.
Selenium and Zinc are vital trace minerals normally found in the soil, though the zinc in vegetables has less bio-availability than from animal sources such as beef, pork, and lamb, which contain more zinc than fish. The dark meat of a chicken has more zinc than the light meat. I don't recommend eating pork, however, for many reasons not the least being that pork is a very dirty animal on the inside who's body is riddled with powerful poisons and toxins which are still there no matter how long you cook the meat or how it's prepared. I'll be talking more about that in a later article too.
Due to destructive farming practices, the use of pesticides and herbicides, not allowing the land to rest, over farming, acid rain and more, about two-thirds of the tillable soil in the world has a critical lack or is totally devoid of selenium. This means that most of the world's population is critically deficient in selenium and seriously lacking in zinc as well. This can and will be a major factor in the spread of disease and epidemics in the future since a population with weaker immunity will also mean a greater spread of such diseases. But there are things that each of us can do now individually to help protect ourselves and our loved ones too. It starts with the right knowledge and the right actions.
Selenium and zinc are vital to the production of the two most powerful anti-oxidant and anti-aging enzymes in the body. They are Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Glutathione peroxidase. Without sufficient supplies of Zinc and Selenium it's impossible for the body to produce these two vital enzymes. These are also known as the "Anti-aging enzymes" because many scientists now believe that the "Anti-aging gene" is responsible for the production of SOD. Many scientists are also seeing that the aging process is merely a result of declining SOD and many other anti-oxidant enzymes.
Empirical evidence and modern research has demonstrated that nature purposely shuts off the production of SOD in the body when a person's health declines to the point where they are no longer a viable candidate for reproduction. This is nature's way of ensuring that only the more fit and healthy specimens survive and therefore reproduce only fit and healthy offspring. That's why sexual dysfunction is one of the earliest signs of declining health and vitality. This is also mirrored in the traditional Taoist view that one's sexual vitality and vigor is a prime indicator of flourishing health. This validates the numerous sexual longevity techniques used by the Chinese, and the Taoists in particular, who have known for centuries that sexual vitality is a prime indicator of health and longevity and can in fact be used to increase both when done properly.
Never listen to the mainstream media or western medicine who will try to convince you that you get all the vitamins and minerals that you need from food today. They also state that because of the "fortification" of foods today, taking supplements is a waste of time. That is a lie and they know it! The so called fortification of foods today is a joke.
Let's take white bread for example. They talk about it being "fortified" with vitamins and minerals. Why didn't they just leave the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals in the grains in the first place. Well, it's far more expensive to make the bread the natural way since more care has to be taken in the production of the bread, not to mention a lower output yield per acre of cropland. By using machines and making the bread much faster, then telling you the fallacy that fortification of breads and all other foods are all you need to stay healthy, they can greatly increase their cost per unit return and buy a larger yacht and another summer home, all while giving you the worst possible so called "food" to eat. It's all about the money of course.
Natural bread as our ancestors made thousands of years ago has so much nutrition, minerals, vitamins, omega-3's and other necessary nutrients and elements in it that those who commercially manufacture the bread know that people would be healthy and almost never get sick if they made bread with all the natural twenty-one grains that should be present.
There are even breads that were made that were so healthy they were said to be reversing cancers and many other ailments and illnesses. There was a company in the 1970's making such a product, only to be shut down by stormtroopers of the FDA. Of course big pharma coerced the government into shutting these small companies down despite them never making any claims about their bread being a medicine or cure for anything.
So what is the real deal? It may come and no surprise to those who have studied this subject for a period of time to learn that most of the information out there is wrong and flat out lies. You simply can not live a healthy life, have a strong immune system, sufficient energy when you need it, ward off premature aging and be emotionally balanced without the necessary nutrients that the body requires.
The best way to get those nutrients is from organic, natural whole foods and raw food sources. In this modern age, that is increasingly difficult. Fortunately, thanks to the organic movement of the past ten years or so it's been much easier to come by organic foods in a wider variety of places. With the recent movement back to organic foods, sustainable farming methods, farmer's markets and co-ops, and the knowledge that locally grown foods taste best, more and more people are in fact getting more nutrients from their foods as nature truly intended.
The problem however lies in the fact that today's soil is nowhere near what it should be in terms of fertility and mineral content. For example, the selenium content of the soil today is virtually gone. This is a vital mineral that plays a critical role in the body's ability to produce the powerful anti-oxidants Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Glutathione peroxidase (GP). Along with sufficient supplies of Zinc, Selenium is a vital trace element that the body needs a good supply of to remain healthy and strong and to produce these two powerful anti-oxidants. Laboratory mice that have been engineered to lack these two powerful protective enzymes, experience everything from dying several days after birth when lacking SOD1 to developing an acceleration of age related muscle mass loss, while mice lacking SOD2 die several days after birth due to massive oxidative damage.
This gives us clear evidence of how vital these two powerful anti-oxidant enzymes are. Without sufficient supplies of selenium and zinc, our bodies are unable to produce sufficient supplies of SOD and various illnesses, premature aging due to oxidative stress and more can result, including cancer. Of course, cancer is primarily a disease of the immune system and it's been known in the medical and scientific community for over one hundred years that nearly all diseases are caused by a lack of nutrition!
Medical researchers and true doctors have been maligned, discredited, and threatened for trying to publish results, papers, or articles that state that anything more than the minimum RDA for nutrients and vitamins are required to maintain optimal health. There are numerous cases of this happening in modern history. It would take pages to list them all. Time and time again if anyone suggests that anything other than surgery and chemotherapy are to be prescribed for cancer, they are considered a fraud, attacked, ridiculed or worse.
In the 1930's a Dr. named Max Gerson, a German scientist that qualified to practice medicine in the US in 1938, was trying to get his paper published of the fantastic results of his nutritional therapy on cancer and migraines, he was never able to get one published. JAMA did finally publish an article about him listed under "Fraud and Fables", which left no doubt about what his peers thought about him and his "cure". Even back in the 1930's, surgery and radiation were the main treatments for cancer, but they say that they're "winning the war on cancer"... right.
Lack of nutrition is a cause for nearly most if not all disease. Dr. Joel Wallach M.D., D.V.M, who himself performed over 27,000 autopsies on animals and 10,000 on humans, once told a friend "Whatever disease the cadaver exhibited, malnutrition was always the underlying cause". This should give us all more then enough information to realize that the minimums of vitamins and minerals, especially critical minerals such as selenium and zinc are not enough to stave off cancer and other diseases of the immune system. This is especially true in our over polluted modern lives.
Because of the lack of minerals like Selenium and so many others in the modern diet, we need to take supplements to ensure that our bodies are getting all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients necessary. Studies have shown that an apple grown today, even one grown organically, has about ten times less nutritional value than one grown about one-hundred years ago. This is not good. That means of course that we would have to eat ten times the amount of fruits and vegetables to get the same nutrition that our grandparents received. Add to this the fact that the air, water, food and our homes are polluted with so much more environmental toxins than they experienced even one-hundred years ago and you see how getting all the nutrients we need to stay healthy today is a much greater challenge than in the past.
A daily dose of 200-250mcg of Selenium is regarded as a good number to shoot for. If you're looking for a natural source of Selenium, try Brazil nuts. Although the amount of selenium varies greatly, they are also a good source of magnesium and thiamine. Just three Brazil nuts daily is equal to approximately the 200mcg recommended by alternative nutritional therapists and practitioners.
Since selenium and zinc work together to produce SOD, we need to take 50mg of zinc per day along with the selenium to ensure that our bodies are able to produce sufficient supplies of SOD and many other enzymes needed. This also has the additional benefit of giving the immune system a solid boost from these powerful and vital minerals. Since minerals can cause mild stomach upset when taken on an empty stomach, it's best to take them with your breakfast or lunch to prevent this.
A friend of mine recently found out how effective selenium was when she got the flu. She took several thousand MG of vitamin C as well as eating organic and taking a good multi (Alive-Whole food Energizer), but since she works at a hospital, this time she needed more. I told her to add the selenium and zinc a while ago but she did not. This time she decided to take the 200mcg per day and within about 30 hours, her strong headaches that she had as well as the other symptoms were 90% gone, the following day she was feeling great, never having missed a day at work.
(The above information is for educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any illness. Always consult an alternative health care professional before making any changes to your diet or lifestyle.)
References:
1. Daniel Reid "The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing"
2. Daniel Reid "The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity"
3. Jonathan Eisen "Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries"
About the author
Richard is a network engineer and longtime practitioner of Chinese martial arts, medicine and chi-gung for over twenty six years. Having learned many Chinese health and healing arts from old world gung-fu and healing masters and practitioners, he has helped many people to overcome their health issues and achieve their fitness goals. Through diligent study and experience he has taken this knowledge even further over the years including reading scores of books on Chinese medicine, health, chi theory, science, physics, nutrition, supplements, meditation, martial arts, and many other subjects. Utilizing the web, health and fitness videos, newsletters, articles, teachings and lectures, Rich is passionate about spreading the true knowledge of health, healing, fitness and spiritual truths. I'm proud to be writing articles for NaturalNews.com You can read many articles, hear audio interviews, and learn more about the highly praised Chinese Health and Fitness video by visiting Chinese Health and Fitness.com
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