New Neurons Doubled
In the most recent research, when the Australian scientists tested – in test tubes – how selenium affected cells that could form neurons, they found that the number of cells doubled in two weeks. And when they administered selenium into animals' brains for a week, the number of cells that are precursors to neurons in the brain's hippocampus tripled.1 In other tests, when older lab animals had selenium added to their drinking water for a month, the number of newly grown neurons in the hippocampus doubled. Even more exciting, those new neurons helped the animals ace the memory tests that researchers gave them. In some cases, the animals could learn tasks twice as fast as animals who were not given selenium. Plus, when the Australians tested selenium's cognitive benefits on animals who had suffered brain injury they found it helped restore intellectual function. Function which had disappeared in the brain-injured animals not given selenium.Long Term Improvement in Brain Health
Along with these Australian experiments, other studies have uncovered further potential brain benefits from selenium, including:- Eating Brazil nuts, which are rich in selenium, may improve the thinking abilities of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI): When researchers fed older adults who had MCI one Brazil nut daily for six months, they found that their verbal abilities and other mental capacities improved significantly. MCI is often a precursor to Alzheimer's disease.2 In their published study, the researchers note that selenium reduces oxidative stress in the brain.
- Selenium compounds show promise for treating ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease): Tests in England and Japan show that new chemicals made from selenium may help prevent toxic reactions in neurons that lead to ALS. The scientists believe "this is a significant step forward for developing a new class of drug candidates for ALS."3
