A Swedish working party on selenium, consisting of doctors and dentists has pointed out that the body uses up its reserves of selenium more quickly when it is required to counteract an increased strain, e.g. an influx of heavy metals. The mechanisms in this control are substances called antioxidants. During oxidation, oxygen free radicals are formed. These can be fatal to the cell because of their high degree of reactivity. Certain metals and radioactive radiation can also give rise to the formation of free radicals.
Free radicals play a major role in the ageing process and they put pressure on the immune system.
They help to counteract and neutralise the free radicals in a number of different ways. Increasingly, researchers are describing antioxidants in terms of a complex of substances which co-operate with, and reinforce each other. It is therefore of great importance, that we not only take sufficient antioxidants, but also that we take them in the correct reciprocal balance. There is no doubt that if mercury was suggested today as a new material for fillings it would never receive approval. Today, a critical evaluation of amalgam results in a quite different picture.