Supplements and Herbs (XXXI)
On selenium and cancer
copyright © January 2009 Healing Cancer Naturally
The following information "tidbits" on the nonmetallic trace element selenium have been compiled, excerpted and translated by Healing Cancer Naturally from various sources, including a German lecture held in April 2003 by eminent holistic physician Dietrich Klinghardt M.D., Ph.D. at the ETH Zurich (Dr. Klinghardt specialises in effective holistic heavy metal detoxification, particularly mercury). They are meant as a complement to the ample information already provided on selenium in a number of places.
While elements such as mercury, lead and aluminum apparently have no physiological function in the body (meaning that even small amounts have negative physiological effects), selenium is a trace element needed to perform certain functional roles as well as credited with various healing benefits. Used as a supplement, selenium (similar to some other metals) reputedly has a narrow physiological range which means that there is only a small step from a therapeutic dose to one that is toxic and thus an overdose (this in contrast to magnesium for instance which boasts a wide physiological range and hence is less easy to overdose). In fact, selenium just like the better known arsenic has been used to kill.
A private letter received by Healing Cancer Naturally reports the following selenium testimonials:
“A farmer in Western Australia sent home to die with a prostate cancer metastasised to the bones cured himself with massive doses of selenium.
It was actually a drench for stock; it costs AUS$ 24 for 5 litres.
One of my neighbours in Babinda who had exactly the same case heard of the story and tried it. His PSA is now 0.2.
We tried the same dose for my wife’s colon cancer for nearly a year and it did nothing for her though she never showed any selenium toxicity.
This is what made me think that what is good for a prostate cancer may not be so for a colon cancer.
Dr Sartori* uses massive doses by IV and has cured cancer in 12 days. His patients who die actually die due to other causes than cancer, such as liver failure or heart failure or other things.”
On selenium & prostate cancer risk
The Journal of Urology (December 2001;166:2034-8) featured a study by Stanford University scientists measuring the blood levels of selenium in 52 men with prostate cancer and 96 men without the disease.
In addition to finding that "blood levels of selenium generally decreased with age", it was found that high selenium levels were "associated with a four- to fivefold decrease in the risk of prostate cancer".
Epidemiologic evidence
The 1995 "Harvard Health Letter" article Green Revolution - Cancer-Fighting Foods writes: "Selenium is being actively studied by epidemiologists and basic scientists with mixed results. Interest was sparked by epidemiologic evidence that population groups with higher selenium intakes have less cancer than those who consume little of this trace mineral. ... further epidemiologic investigations have found little or no protective effect in humans. Some researchers believe that selenium may work best as an anti-cancer agent in concert with phytochemicals or antioxidants such as beta carotene and vitamin C.”
Dr. med. Klinghardt on selenium
(translated by Healing Cancer Naturally from a German lecture held in April 2003 at the ETH Zurich:)
“Most people lack selenium and require it to successfully detoxify. If too much selenium is administered [during mercury detoxification etc.], mercury will be fixated in the brain and in the tissues. Selenium has a narrow therapeutical range, in other words one easily gets into the toxic range where the patient will suffer from selenium poisoning.
In the presence of selenium, viruses are unable to multiply. So I give selenium less for detoxification purposes than for stopping viral replication. And here is a tip for you: nearly every cancer can be stopped by giving large amounts of selenium. The crux is to find the narrow range between poisoning the patient with selenium and giving too little, where it won’t work. The best of course is to use kinesiological muscle testing to determine the needed amount.”
Supplementing with selenium?
As the above examples show, supplementing with high selenium doses could be risky unless done under the supervision of a highly knowledgeable person.
To increase selenium intake, personally I would not go for isolated supplements (or use them only for jump-starting purposes), both for reasons of bioavailability and since minerals act synergistically and need to be ingested in balanced ratio to avoid them "cancelling" each other, not to mention the above-discussed potential toxicity of “overdosed” selenium. Natural food sources rich in minerals and trace elements are for instance seaweed (watch out for heavy metals pollution) as well as organically grown food.
Healing Cancer Naturally considers minerals and trace elements and the ubiquitous lack of them a major player in cancer genesis and healing, see Minerals.
* H. E. Sartori, M.D. is the author of the book entitled: "Cancer - Orwellian or Utopian". More on Dr. Sartori's use of cesium therapy (which includes the administration of selenium salts) in Cesium Chloride (High pH Therapy): A Cure for Cancer?.
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