Critically ill patients often suffer from inflammation and oxidative stress, which is an imbalance between harmful free radicals and protective antioxidants. In worst case, this may result in tissue damage and organ failure. It turns out vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant with a therapeutic potential. According to a new systematic review article and meta-analysis, therapy with large quantities of intravenous vitamin C helps shorten the duration of the hospital stay for critically ill patients without any side effects.

Kidney stones is a painful and quite common problem. The diet plays a major role and according to a large American population study published in Nutrients, selenium may help prevent the condition. The authors mention that selenium-containing proteins and antioxidants have preventative mechanisms and due to the widespread problems with selenium-depleted farmland, they say that selenium supplementation may be a good way to prevent and manage kidney stones and other pathological changes.

In the summertime, we synthesize vitamin D in our skin when we expose ourselves to sunlight. Vitamin D is a nutrient that is of vital importance to mood and health in general. When it is dark outside, we produce melatonin, which is important for our sleep. In addition to that, melatonin has a number of other important functions. Over the past decades, science has focused on its potential in the prevention of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, sclerosis, and several other diseases. Apparently, vitamin D and melatonin work as hormones day and night and are of vital importance to the immune system. Also, they regulate inflammation, protect cells, and have many other functions. In a new review article that is published in Nutrients, the scientists refer to melatonin as the “next vitamin D”. Also, they mention that many people get too little sunlight during the day and too little darkness at night, which results in a deficiency of both vitamin D and melatonin.

Selenium is an essential trace element of vital importance to our general health. The nutrient is also important for our gut flora, and being selenium-deficient may increase the risk of irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory gut diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerous colitis, and even bowel cancer. Our intestine is also called our “third brain” because both our gut flora and digestion have a significant influence on our mental well-being, according to a review article published in Frontiers in Nutrition. The authors focus on selenium because selenium deficiencies are common in China, Europe, and many other places, and supplementation may be necessary.

Both physical traumas and critical illnesses are associated with inflammation and oxidative stress where free radicals can cause potentially life-threatening damage to cells and tissues. Traumas are estimated to be the cause of one in ten deaths. New research suggests that early intervention with selenium may shorten the hospital stay including the days spent in intensive care and reduce total mortality. This was shown in a study published in Frontiers in Nutrition where the researchers looked closer at selenium’s unique antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory effect.

Telomeres are protective caps at the end of our DNA strands. You can compare them to the small plastic aglets that prevent shoelaces from unraveling. For each time a cell divides, the telomeres become shorter. The length of telomeres conveniently indicates our biological age. Diet plays a role and according to a large population study, vitamin C intake is linked to telomere length. The same is the case with Q10 and selenium, according to Swedish research. Vitamin C, Q10, and selenium serve as unique antioxidants that protect the telomeres and the cells against damage caused by oxidative stress.