Selenium 200 mcg (from Mustard Seed)

Selenium was named for Selene, the moon, by the chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1817 — a companion element to tellurium, which had been named for the earth. For a century and a half it was known mainly as a toxin. Only in 1957 was it shown to be an essential nutrient, and the therapeutic window between the two remains one of the narrower ones in nutrition.

Selenium's function is structural. It is incorporated as the amino acid selenocysteine directly into roughly twenty-five human selenoproteins, among them glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase — the enzymes that reduce peroxides and regenerate the cell's antioxidant systems. It is also required by the deiodinases, the enzymes that convert thyroid hormone from its storage form to its active one. Without selenium, those proteins simply cannot be built.

Selenium supplies 200 mcg per vegetarian capsule, drawn from mustard seed (Brassica nigra) rather than from an inorganic salt. Plants of the mustard family take up selenium from soil and incorporate it into amino acids, which is the form the body evolved to absorb. Soil selenium varies widely by region, and so does dietary intake.

It is used to support normal antioxidant defense and healthy thyroid function.

Available in 75 vegetarian capsules.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.