Anticancer mineral works best in food.Selenium selenium (səlē`nēəm), nonmetallic chemical element; symbol Se; at. no. 34; at. wt. 78.96; m.p. 217°C;; b.p. about 685°C;; sp. gr. 4.81 at 20°C;; valence −2, +4, or +6. is an essential mineral that comes in many chemical forms. Although selenium-rich diets appear capable of protecting people against several cancers, a new federal study has found that selenium eaten as a pure compound may not protect as well as selenium consumed as a part of food. John W. Finley of the Agricultural Department's Grand Forks Grand Forks, city (1990 pop. 49,425), seat of Grand Forks co., E N.Dak., at the confluence of the Red and the Red Lake rivers; inc. 1881. In a spring wheat, livestock, and farm area, the city has grain elevators, state-operated flour mills, and plants that process (N.D.) Human Nutrition Research Center enriched the diets of rats with selenium for 12 weeks. Some got selenomethionine, either in pure form or as a constituent of wheat. Others got methylated meth·yl·ate n. An organic compound in which the hydrogen of the hydroxyl group of methyl alcohol is replaced by a metal. tr.v. meth·yl·at·ed, meth·yl·at·ing, meth·yl·ates 1. selenocysteine, in pure form or as a natural ingredient in high-selenium broccoli. Three weeks into the trial, the nutritionists gave each animal a chemical that would cause colon cancer colon cancer, cancer of any part of the colon (often called the large intestine). Colon cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosed in the United States. . Nine weeks later, they surveyed the rats for precancerous precancerous /pre·can·cer·ous/ (-kan´ser-us) pertaining to a pathologic process that tends to become malignant. pre·can·cer·ous adj. intestinal-surface features called aberrant crypts. Those rats getting the purified selenium additives had 50 percent more aberrant crypts than did rats getting selenium as part of the wheat or broccoli they ate. Indeed, rodents getting the purified additives had as many aberrant crypts as rats getting no extra selenium did. Something in the whole foods must boost selenium's anti-cancer property, Finley concludes. He's now trying to find out what that something is. |
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