When I share with folks that Dr. Wallach, founder of Youngevity, says everyone needs 90 “Essential Nutrients” going into their body every day – I have to define “Essential”. In the health context, it means it is a nutrient required for proper functioning of your body — but your body cannot produce it. It has to be “PUT IN” – thus, it is “Essential”.
And the truth is, you can’t “PUT IN” enough via your food intake. But that is another blog for another day.
Unfortunately, the typical reaction (for all of us, so I am not being overly critical) is to head to a vitamin store and buy that single “essential” nutrient we just read or heard about. And usually the least expensive one or one step up is our choice. I will address in a minute why this is a big mistake.
But let’s look at selenium – it is an essential nutrient the body needs but can’t manufacture.
I quote Steve Wallach’s blog here:
To understand why selenium is crucial to our overall health, it helps to first examine its fascinating and controversial history. Largely misunderstood for decades, selenium was once thought to be harmful and even dangerously toxic. And not surprisingly, it was people like my father (Dr. Joel Wallach) who played a major role in revealing the truth behind this essential nutrient.
My dad’s experience with selenium began when he was a farm boy growing up in Missouri. He was very much aware of selenium at the time, because it was used to prevent muscular degeneration in farm animals. Back then, you could buy injectable antibiotics and injectable selenium in just about any feed store, and that led to something that stuck with my dad throughout his career. Once the animals with white muscle disease (a type of muscular dystrophy) were injected with selenium, they would, “pop up, run around, and act perfectly normal.”
Steve’s blog goes on to explain the path Dr. Wallach traveled to make significant discoveries regarding selenium and then “act” on those – to our benefit. As Steve explained….
… he [Dr. Wallach] knew from his earlier research and published papers that selenium is needed by all cells and tissues in the body, including the heart, liver, and muscles. He also knew that a selenium deficiency could contribute to cystic fibrosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and heart disease, to name a few. Even the white muscle disease he had observed in his earlier years was subsequently proven to be caused by a lack of selenium.
All of which begs the question, what exactly is the root cause of these serious conditions? Surely, given my father’s research and those like him, it can’t be attributed to genetics alone. There’s simply too much evidence to the contrary, and the scientific consensus has been leaning towards nutritional deficiency as a major cause since the late 1970s.
…. In keeping with his forward-thinking approach, my dad defied the status quo nearly 40 years ago, firmly establishing him as one of the loudest voices in the emerging health and wellness industry. He developed a pioneering product that contained selenium. He lectured around the world on radio and TV, publicizing the crucial importance of selenium, including how a deficiency could contribute to a wide range of serious conditions. The word was out, people started listening, and parents even started supplementing their baby formulas with selenium and other essential nutrients.
Why am I giving you the background information here?
So that you can see what an amazing feat it was when Dr. Wallach and his friend and colleague Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer teamed up to get the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to recognize some of the benefits of selenium. Here are Dr. Schrauzer’s words from an interview transcript published in booklet form in 2015….
….the FDA does not allow that anyone could make a health claim about anything. You couldn’t say, for example, that selenium helps against certain forms of cancer unless you could prove it. They demand sufficient scientific evidence.
So under the recommendations of Dr. Wallach, we accumulated approximately 500 scientific papers and submitted them to the FDA. We were able to get the approval for two health claims.
The first one is that selenium can reduce the risk of certain forms of cancer, and the second is that selenium produces anti-cancer substances in the human organism.
This is quite a significant achievement. It is purely altruistic also because other companies may use this kind of information. But at least now we can help people recognize the value of selenium.
And I think this is most important because the intake of selenium in many populations is insufficient to maximize its protective effects.
From an out-of-print booklet titled “The Schrauzer Files: Selenium by Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer interviewed by Blake Graham” published 2015 by YTeamTools.com
There is so much more to the story so I have linked to the full blogs I am referencing (it was a long and expensive trip through federal court processes to win the battle and took a good lawyer using the First Amendment as leverage).
Let me address the “big mistake” I mentioned – your action when you hear how important selenium is and how it was finally qualified for a “hard to get” Qualified Health Claim.
Unfortunately, the vitamins and minerals you purchase in stores and even online very likely do not have in them what the label says they do. You need to verify that a 3rd-party independent testing of the ingredients has occurred.
But just as critical, if not more, is a point made by Dr. Peter Glidden, a naturopath who is a big supporter of the quality of Youngevity supplements. He says “all supplements are not created equal….the recipe is everything. The quality of the ingredients and how they are put together and stored as well as how they are bottled all make an enormous difference in the quality of the product.”
Dr. Glidden developed a questionnaire that he uses for the vitamin companies that want him to use their products – it is designed to see their production methodology, quality control procedures and many different variables that he says are critical.
Which begs my question – how does Youngevity stack up in his review? He says “…in the last 20 years…only 3 have passed my test. That’s three – 1, 2, 3. And the top dog, hands down, way out in front of everybody else – Youngevity.” That’s quite an endorsement.
But don’t skip over that word – recipe. You don’t just wolf down straight “selenium” when you find out how wonderful it is for what ails you.
Here is what Dr. Randi Shannon (full blog HERE) said about why she aligned with Youngevity: “As a naturopathic doctor, I have protocols for all of the ailments that I come across, and Youngevity makes that really easy for me.” She went on to say their products go right after the health issues in a really powerful way.
So let’s hit selenium specifically. She described Youngevity’s Ultimate Selenium as being in “a league of its own” saying it’s “…not just your typical selenium, it’s so far above anything else out there on the market. We’re so lucky that Dr. Wallach had the knowledge and foresight to put the cofactors in the selenium to make it work so much better. There is not one part of the body that won’t benefit from our Selenium formulation.”
So, there it is. From the selenium in Youngevity’s foundational “Healthy Body Start Pak” (which I recommend to people beginning nutritional supplement)….to the add-on of Ultimate Selenium…to the Ultimate Prost Fx… the high quality selenium and cofactors are available for consumption and support of your body.
Oh, how I wish I could share a wonderful testimony of a friend for Prost Fx – but my lawyers say I can’t do that here. I will just share the description for Ultimate Selenium on the website – “in addition to selenium and other trace minerals, vitamins, and nutrients, it offers Youngevity’s proprietary blend of targeted fruit extracts and amino acids—all of which are known to protect against cell-damaging free radicals and support overall health.”
Bottom line – selenium is amazing, and even the FDA had to acknowledge it. But don’t waste your money — remember to look for quality of ingredients and recipe. And find a coach or health guide to help with responding to what your body is telling you about proper nutrition and amounts.
Happy to have a chat about selenium or other nutritional support – click HERE.
So there you go! How much quality selenium (with good co-factors/recipe) are you “putting in”?
Food and dietary supplement products sold by Youngevity are intended to contribute to the daily diet and overall health and are not intended for use in the prevention, treatment, mitigation, or cure of any disease or health-related condition. Individuals who have or suspect they have an illness or who wish to commence a diet or exercise program should consult an appropriately licensed health care practitioner for a medical history evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and health recommendations.
