Selenium Mineral Levels Increased in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Parkinson’s Patients, Research Suggests

[pvw2]

Quote:

Selenium is a critical mineral that has antioxidant properties, is essential for brain health, and plays a role in immune functions as well as anti-cancer activity.

Despite its antioxidant properties, conflicting evidence exists in regard to the role selenium plays in Parkinson’s. Several studies have found higher selenium levels in people with the disease, compared with healthy individuals, but others have shown regular or decreased levels of selenium in this patient population....

“We speculate that oxidative stress conferred by the pathogenesis [disease characteristics] of [Parkinson’s disease] can lead to higher selenium levels and increased antioxidant capacity as a protective mechanism,” the researchers said...

The researchers concluded that Parkinson’s patients may have higher selenium levels in their cerebrospinal fluid. However, further study is necessary as this finding, although significant, was associated with great data heterogeneity, they said.

parkinsonsnewstoday.com/202...

[rescuema]

I say look into iodine deficiency, or supplement iodine.

[ElliotGreen]

Yeah, I am trying to figure this one out.

I am currently taking 200µg of selenium per day, paste on the advice Dr. Laurie Mischley.

These guys did an association analysis found that people with PD had a higher level of selenium in plasma.

journals.plos.org/plosone/a...

Then we have this:

"[I]t is known that very high or very low body levels of selenium can (possibly) contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, because this imbalance results in increased levels of oxidative stress."

scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0...

It seems like not enough selenium is a problem, but too much is also a problem! Jeepers!

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Here's an article which purports to find a higher-than-expected incidence of mortality from Parkinson's disease in a population that had moderately higher selenium in drinking water. HOWEVER, out of a population of 2065 residents, they were expecting 1 case Parkinson's disease, but they had 3 cases. To me, these numbers are too small to be at all conclusive. You could have a couple of extra Parkinson's disease cases for any number of reasons that had nothing to do with selenium!

jclinepi.com/article/S0895-...

The following article seems to be much better. It compared Parkinson's disease mortality rates with element levels in the soil across almost 5000 sites in the 48 contiguous United States! They found PD mortality to be inversely correlated with selenium levels in the soil. That means that, on average, the higher the selenium levels, the lower the Parkinson's disease mortality.

link.springer.com/article/1...