Cancer Prevention Guide

Selenium is an element that has long been used to treat dandruff in many shampoo’s, which is also very much present in nuts, grains and meats. It has also been found to be quite effective against bladder cancer, one of the many cancers that afflicts the digestive tract. New research is showing that in moderation, selenium is quite effective in preventing bladder cancer and is being targeted as a chemopreventive treatment for the disease that is responsible for a lot of deaths each year. The element is found to have a high interaction rate with a particular gene, the p53 gene which is used to diagnose the occurrence of bladder cancer. Alteration of the said genes is a sure sign of disease in the urinary tract which makes selenium a very important element for further study.
Such specific treatments are the norm of today’s gene dissecting laboratories who work to isolate genes and specific proteins that cause and prevents disease. People who have healthy diets rich in foodstuffs that are rich in selenium have lower occurrence of the disease. The bluish compound of the element is found in anti-dandruff shampoo but high levels can be toxic and deadly to humans. Selenium is considered to be a micro-nutrient meaning trace elements are needed for proper cell function but as stated excessive amounts can lead to selenosis. Accepted intake levels of the element is set at 400 micrograms (actually 800, dosage is halved to prevent dietary imbalance) to avoid the ill effects of the element which also exists in radioactive isotopes.