Today I want to cover some interesting points about selenium that you may have never heard before.

Selenium is a trace mineral, and it’s involved in thyroid function and helps detox mercury.

Selenium is also a powerful antioxidant. It’s important to support cardiovascular and brain health and may help prevent strokes and cancer.

Brazil nuts are loaded with selenium. One Brazil nut will give you the selenium you need for the day. Taking too much selenium could lead to selenium toxicity.

Selenium is in many other foods, too, so why are so many people deficient in selenium? It has to do with the fact that it’s in a form that plant roots have a difficult time extracting—they need help from microbes. However, there aren’t enough microbes or diversity of microbes in the soil.

A good solution is to start buying foods from farmers who care about their soil and grow things with microbial diversity. It’s also essential to consume fermented foods.

Another overlooked cause of selenium deficiency is a certain genetic mutation related to the proteins or enzymes with selenium. Taking statins may also lead to selenium deficiency.