Summary
The path followed in the biochemistry of selenium has taken some sharp turns during its development. At first, feared as a poisoner of livestock and later impugned as a carcinogen, selenium has about-faced and is now recognized as an essential micronutrient with anti-carcinogenic properties. While early studies on selenium have focused on the role of this trace element in animal physiology and studies with microorganisms, the field has matured to employ molecular biology to explain and employ the protective effects of selenium against a number of human maladies, including cancer and heart disease. The emphasis of this chapter is an examination of selenium’s early history as a toxin, its later recognition as an essential micronutrient in the diet of mammals and its impact in the livestock industry that provided the foundations for the vast amount of the current basic and health research on this fascinating element.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Polo, Marco. 1967. The Travels of Marco Polo Translated by EW Marsden and revised by T Wright pp 100–101 Everymans Library, London (Cited in C Reilly 1996 Selenium in Food and Health Chapman & Hall London p 3)
TC Madison 1860 Statistical Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army of the United States RH Cooledge ed Ex Doc 52:37
KW Franke 1934 J Nutrition 8:597–608
AL Moxon 1937 Bull. 311, S. Dakota AgExp Sta 81 pp
JJ Berzelius 1818 Serie 2 7:194 (Cited in C Reilly 1996 Selenium in Food and Health Chapman & Hall London p 2)
K Schwarz, CM Foitz 1957 J Am Chem Soc 78:3292
OH Muth, JE Oldfieid, LF Remmert, JR Schubert 1958 Science 128:1090
C Reilly 1996 Selenium in Food and Health Chapman & Hall ed London 338
E Wolf, V Kollonitsch, CH Kline 1963 Agr & Food Chem 11:355
JT Rotruck, AL Pope, HE Ganther, AB Swanson, DG Hafeman, WG Hoekstra 1973 Science 179:588
L Flohé, WA Gunzler, HH Schock 1973 FEBS Letters 32:132
JE Oldfield 1997 Biomed & Environ 10:280
B Gu 1993 Chinese Med J 96:251
P Koivistoinen, K Huttunen 1986 Ann Clin Res 18:13
MP Rayman 2000 Lancet 356:233
GF Combs Jr 2001 Nutrition and Cancer 40:6
LC Clark, GF Combs Jr, BW Turnbull, EH Slate, D Alberts, D Abele, R Allison, J Bradshaw, D Chalker, J Chow, D Curtis, J Dalen, L Davis, R Deal, M Dellasega 1996 J Am Med Assoc 276:1957
AA Nelson, OG Fitzhugh, HO Calvery 1943 Cancer Res 3:230
GF Combs Jr, SB Combs 1986 The Role of Selenium in Nutrition Academic Press Inc New York
1993 Antioxidant Vitamins Newsletter Hoffman LaRoche Co New York 7:12
AFM Kardinaal, FJ Kok, L Kohlmeier, M Martin-Moreno, J Ringstad, J Gomez-Aracena, VP Mazaer, M Thamm, BC Martin, P Van’tVeer, JK Huttunea 1997 Am J Epidemiology 145:373
JT Salonen 1985 Trace Elements in Health and Disease H Bostrom, N Ljungstedt ed Almquist and Wiksell International Stockholm 172
HD Foster 2002 What Really Causes AIDS? Traffbrd Publishing Victoria, Canada 197
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Oldfield, J.E. (2006). Selenium: A historical perspective. In: Hatfield, D.L., Berry, M.J., Gladyshev, V.N. (eds) Selenium. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-33827-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-33827-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-33826-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-33827-9
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)