Two tissues of the body do not release substances again but push them outward. Goshenitschein considers what that means for a trace element counted in micrograms. Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal nails — In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 432/2012.
To the explainerThe following three panels name first the anatomical or biochemical context and then the authorized wording. Each claim stands on its own; nothing is merged here, not even when two sentences concern the same element.
The cells from which a nail plate emerges sit under the fold of skin at the rear edge. There they divide, fill with keratin, lose their nucleus and become flat. What is then pushed forward is already finished material: no blood vessel reaches it, no enzyme works in it, no composition changes any longer. The proportion of cysteine, and thus of sulfur, is higher in this horn substance than in almost any other body protein.
From this construction follows a property used in surveys: a nail sample does not depict the present day, but the period in which the material formed. For a fingernail plate that is on the order of six months, for a toenail plate considerably more.
In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 432/2012
A hair is not formed at the surface, but in an invagination of the skin. A few tenths of a millimeter above the root, the cell stops producing protein; from this height the chains link to one another, and the thread receives its final firmness. Everything that steps to the surface afterward is already complete in its composition.
In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 432/2012
Oxygen-containing intermediates arise continuously in metabolism and, in small amounts, even by design, because cells use them as a signal. What the organism keeps ready is therefore not a wall against their formation, but a series of enzymes that convert them to water. Several of these carry selenium firmly in their active center.
In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 432/2012
Nail and hair stand apart in one respect: the organism builds them up but then loses all access to them. A muscle is remodeled, a liver cell exchanges its proteins within days, a red blood cell is broken down after months and its components are reused. The horn plate on the finger, by contrast, migrates forward and is cut off.
This raises the question of how an element that occurs in the body only in fractions of a milligram ends up in this material at all. The answer lies not with the known selenium-containing enzymes, but with a process that is more of an oversight of metabolism.
Selenium and sulfur are in the same column of the periodic table and behave chemically similarly. In plants and yeasts, selenomethionine arises from this, a building block that differs from the amino acid methionine only by this one atom. The machinery that assembles protein chains in the ribosome does not distinguish the two. It builds in what is offered to it, in proportion to the amounts present.
For this reason, selenium is found again in quite ordinary structural proteins, without having a task there. Keratin is produced in large quantity and is rich in sulfur-containing building blocks — accordingly, the intake of the past months is clearly reflected in it. The purposeful use of the element, by contrast, runs via a second, strictly controlled route with its own incorporation code.
Beneath the plate lies a well-supplied cell layer that gives it support and migrates forward with it. It produces no new plate material, however. That comes exclusively from the formation zone at the rear edge, whose front part shows through as a pale half-moon. The rest of the zone lies hidden under the fold of skin.
In practice this means: a change in diet does not affect the existing plate, but the material that is just being formed — and this reaches the visible surface only months later. Those who collect nail samples for surveys often choose toenails for exactly this reason: they grow more slowly and average over a longer period.
„Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal nails“
In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 432/2012
The best-known selenium-containing enzymes work in the cell sap and there convert dissolved hydrogen peroxide to water. One from this family stands out: it also copes with peroxides that sit on long fatty-acid chains and are thus stuck inside a membrane. A water-soluble enzyme would be ineffective there, because it does not even reach the spot.
This responsibility is the reason why the element regularly appears in the literature in connection with membranes. A cell envelope consists largely of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and it is precisely their double bonds that are the points at which a chain reaction can begin.
„Selenium contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress“
In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 432/2012
A head hair grows by about a third of a millimeter a day, i.e. about one centimeter a month. The cells that supply it are among the most division-eager of the organism. They draw amino acids from the blood, weave them into chains and then let these chains form firm bonds with one another. After that the segment is finished and is pushed up from below.
A hair therefore carries its past along its length: the youngest at the bottom, the oldest at the tip. Analyses that divide a thread into segments make use of this.
„Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal hair“
In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 432/2012
The quoted wordings speak of maintenance and of protection of cells. They do not speak of growth rate, not of breaking strength, not of shine, not of density and not of color. These omissions are neither coincidence nor an oversight of the editors; they are the result of the assessment that preceded each entry.
A claim only enters the Union list if a scientific panel considers the asserted relationship to be sufficiently substantiated. What is assessed is not the element in general, but a concrete wording for a concrete body function. What has not passed this assessment may not be asserted, even if it sounds plausible.
Goshenitschein adheres to this boundary throughout. The wording is reproduced in full, with source, without abridgment and without reformulation. Descriptions of tissue, figures from surveys and information on foods stand alongside it, but they are not calculated into further-reaching statements.
Anyone seeking an assessment for their own situation will, as a matter of principle, not find it on an information page. That is what values collected in a medical practice and discussed there are for.
Sixty-eight pages with content figures per portion instead of per hundred grams, the intake values by age group, a worked example over seven meals, and the Q&A section in full length. The three authorized sentences appear there with their identification number in the register.
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What is stated here is general factual information about a nutrient and about two tissues. It is not medical advice, is not suitable for self-assessment, and does not take the place of an examination. In the case of symptoms, existing illnesses, the intake of medicines, and before using dietary supplements, a physician is the right point of contact. Dietary supplements do not replace a varied diet and a healthy lifestyle. The consumption amount stated on the package must be observed; supplements belong out of the reach of children.
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