The best recent study suggests no benefit on heart disease.  While this might not be the final word, it was a good study.

Selenium No Benefit for the Heart: In a 7.6 year follow-up DB PC study of 1004 adults without heart disease at the start, selenium 200 mcg/d had no beneficial effect on heart disease: all cardiovascular disease: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.03; myocardial infarction: HR = 0.94; stroke: HR = 1.02; all cardiovascular disease mortality: HR = 1.22. Effects of Selenium Supplementation on Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality: Secondary Analyses in a Randomized Clinical Trial. Stranges S, et al. State University of New York at Buffalo. Am J Epidem 2006 Feb 22. Ed: This is a very good study. However, the benefit of selenium has always been considered against cancer, not heart disease.  I will be looking for that report of this study.

Selenium Helps Lower Homocysteine: In a study of elderly adults, serum selenium was inversely associated with homocysteine (tHcy), explaining 5.8% of tHcy variance vs. 2.2% accounted for by serum folate. There was a 63% decreased risk of higher tHcy concentrations (>14 micro mol/L) for subjects with serum selenium in the highest tertile (P = 0.013). There was an inverse association of protein intake with tHcy in men (beta = -0.144; P = 0.036), which disappeared after controlling for serum Se concentrations (beta = -0.055; P = 0.003). Serum selenium is associated with plasma homocysteine concentrations in elderly humans. Gonzalez S, Huerta JM, Alvarez-Uria J, Fernandez S, Patterson AM, Lasheras C. Oviedo, Spain. J Nutr. 2004 Jul;134(7):1736-40. Ed: Lowering homocysteine might lower heart disease, since high homocysteine is associated with heart disease.

Selenium Toenail Levels Not Associated with Lower Heart Disease: Only weak trends towards lower disease were found in the Harvard Health Professional sample. Prospective study of selenium levels in toenails and risk of coronary heart disease in men. Yoshizawa K, Ascherio A, Morris JS, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci E, Baskett CK, Willett WC, Rimm EB. Am J Epidemiol. 2003 Nov 1;158(9):852-60

Helped After a Heart Attack: 47 patients in a DB study found a decrease in left ventricular failure 20% vs. 57%. Thiele, Med Klin 9/97;92 Suppl3:27

Selenium Helped After a Heart Attack: 81 patients in DB PC study for 6 months on selenium 100microg/day. There were 4 deaths on placebo, but none on selenium. There were two non-fatal MI on placebo and one on Selenium. Korpela, U Uolu, Finland, Res Commun Chem Pathol Pharmacol 8/89;65:249.

Selenium May Help Heart: The article refers to a study finding low serum Selenium a risk factor for heart attacks. Supplementation improved the lipid profile in patients low in Se. Res Commun Chem Pathol Pharmacol ’84;46:469

Selenium in the Diet Good for Old Rat Hearts: A high-selenium diet considerably limits the sensitivity of senescent rat hearts to ischemia and reperfusion. This finding suggests that peroxides might play a key role in the increase in cardiac sensitivity to ischemia and reperfusion during ageing. Together with the observation that selenium status decreases with age in humans, our results indicate that reinforcing selenium supply could improve the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases in old patients. Age Ageing. 2003 May;32(3):273-8

Thomas E. Radecki, M.D., J.D.

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