Selenium Stops Flu Mutations

This section is compiled by Frank M. Painter, D.C.
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From The December 2001 Issue of Nutrition Science News

by Jack Challem

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Because flu virus mutations create new virus strains each year, it becomes virtually impossible for the body's immune system to develop a permanent defense. However, taking adequate amounts of selenium can prevent those mutations from occurring. Melinda A. Beck, Ph.D., a virologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her colleagues exposed two groups of laboratory mice to a relatively mild flu virus strain called influenza A Bangkok, which also infects people. Flu viruses infecting selenium-deficient mice developed 29 mutations, which led to greater virulence. In contrast, selenium-replete mice experienced no mutations in the infecting virus and had milder symptoms. [1]

Jack Challem, known as the The Nutrition Reporter™, has been writing about vitamin research for 25 years and is the author of Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance (Wiley, 2000).

References

1. Nelson HK, et al.
Host Nutritional Selenium Status as a Driving Force for Influenza Virus Mutations
FASEB J 2001 (Aug); 15 (10): 1481-1483

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