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Natural Home Cures Since 2004

Freeze-dried botanicals grown on our own farms.

Natural Home Cures products from left to right: Nopal capsules, prickly pear drops, and Nopal powder, with opened capsules and a powder scoop

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NATURAL HOME CURES · NOPAL SCIENCE

Selenium
& Nopal

A trace mineral that connects human nutrition with soil, roots and the growing environment.

Explore the science
Illustration of green Nopal cactus pads and prickly pear fruit on limestone
A CONNECTION WITH THE WHOLE CACTUSFollowing the mineral story back to the soil.

Selenium is a trace mineral, meaning our bodies need only a very small amount of it.

Selenium becomes part of proteins involved in natural antioxidant defenses and thyroid hormone metabolism. Its connection with plant foods also leads us back to the soil—a useful starting point for understanding the environment in which Nopal grows.(1), (2)

A Trace Mineral With Jobs Inside Proteins

The body incorporates selenium into specialized proteins called selenoproteins. One form used in building these proteins is selenocysteine, a selenium-containing amino acid. The mineral becomes part of biological machinery rather than acting alone.(1), (2)

NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT DEFENSES

Managing peroxides

Glutathione peroxidases are selenium-containing enzymes that help manage certain peroxides produced during normal metabolism. Selenium is part of the working structure of these enzymes.(1), (3)

THYROID HORMONE METABOLISM

Changing hormone forms

Selenium-containing deiodinase enzymes help activate and deactivate thyroid hormones. These conversions are part of the body’s normal regulation of hormone activity.(1), (4)

Selenium at the Table

Lentils and chickpeas as examples of plant foods
The selenium content of plant foods varies with growing conditions.

Selenium occurs in a variety of foods. Seafood, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products are familiar sources. Plant foods can also provide selenium, but their content is particularly connected with the conditions where they grow.(1)

  • Seafood
  • Meat & poultry
  • Eggs & dairy
  • Whole grains
  • Nuts & seeds
  • Beans & lentils

A food name alone does not tell the entire mineral story. For plants, the soil and the selenium available for uptake can make an important difference.(1), (5)

Follow the Soil-to-Plant Connection

Plants do not manufacture mineral elements. Their roots take up available substances from the growing environment. With selenium, the soil’s available supply can strongly influence how much reaches plant tissues.(1), (5)

  1. THE STARTING ENVIRONMENT

    Soil

    The amount and availability of selenium vary.

  2. THE POINT OF UPTAKE

    Roots

    Available selenium can enter through the plant’s uptake systems.

  3. THE GROWING PLANT

    Plant tissues

    What accumulates depends on the plant and its growing conditions.

This is a useful way to understand the connection between mineral analysis and agriculture: a harvested plant grew in a particular place, interacting with that environment before it was ever tested or prepared as food.

What Does This Tell Us About Nopal?

THE BOTANICAL CONTEXT

A broader mineral profile

Research on Nopal and other Opuntia materials describes the cactus’s nutritional and mineral composition. That gives us a framework for thinking about the living plant and its relationship with its environment.(6)

The connection is therefore about understanding the plant’s growing environment. It is not a reason to assume that every Nopal cactus—or every Nopal preparation—provides the same selenium content.(1), (5)

Our Nopal Story Begins Before Harvest

Botanical illustration of Nopal cactus in a mountainous landscape
Botanical illustration of the growing landscape.

Natural Home Cures owns the farms where the Nopal for our flagship Freeze-Dried Nopal Powder Capsules is grown. That connects us with the living cactus and its growing environment before it becomes a powder.

We care about the land, the plant and the way it is handled through harvest and preparation. After harvesting, our flagship Nopal is freeze-dried, milled and prepared for the finished capsules. We see those stages as one continuous relationship with the cactus.

Selenium’s soil-to-plant story offers a useful reminder: understanding a botanical product begins with understanding the plant and the place where it grew.

  1. Illustration: Mountain Nopal farm and growers
    STAGE 1 OF 5

    Grow

    Nopal cactus grows on our farms.

  2. Illustrative scene of harvested green Nopal cactus pads in a woven basket.
    STAGE 2 OF 5

    Harvest

    The cactus pads are harvested and prepared.

  3. Nopal — Primary Vacuum Drying (illustration)
    STAGE 3 OF 5

    Freeze-dry

    Moisture is removed from the prepared pads by freeze-drying.

  4. Illustration: Milling dried Nopal pads into powder
    STAGE 4 OF 5

    Mill

    The dried pads are milled into powder.

  5. Illustration: Filling vegetable capsules with Nopal powder
    STAGE 5 OF 5

    Fill capsules

    The milled powder is filled into capsules.

One Mineral Within a Much Larger Plant

Selenium helps connect two perspectives: the specialized proteins of human nutrition and the growing environment of plant foods. Neither perspective tells the whole Nopal story by itself.

Our flagship Nopal capsules sit alongside Nopal Powder and Prickly Pear Drops in our product family. Different plant materials and preparations have their own characteristics. The science library looks at those details one at a time, while keeping the complete cactus in view.

Another trace mineralCopper →People & plantsManganese →Keep exploringNopal minerals →
Natural Home Cures Nopal capsule bottle on limestone

FROM CACTUS TO PRODUCT

Keep the botanical
in the story.

Freeze-dried Nopal cactus capsules.

Explore our Nopal →
The research behind this article

Source References

6 sources Show referencesHide references
  1. 01
    Source referenceSelenium — Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.

    National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements.

    Full citation
    National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. “Selenium — Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.”
    View source
  2. 02
    Source referenceSelenoproteins: Molecular Pathways and Physiological Roles.

    Labunskyy VM, Hatfield DL, Gladyshev VN. Physiological Reviews. 2014;94(3):739–777.

    Full citation
    Labunskyy VM, Hatfield DL, Gladyshev VN. “Selenoproteins: Molecular Pathways and Physiological Roles.” Physiological Reviews. 2014;94(3):739–777.
    View source
  3. 03
    Source referenceGlutathione Peroxidases.

    Brigelius-Flohé R, Maiorino M. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 2013;1830(5):3289–3303.

    Full citation
    Brigelius-Flohé R, Maiorino M. “Glutathione Peroxidases.” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 2013;1830(5):3289–3303.
    View source
  4. 04
    Source referenceSelenium and the Thyroid.

    Köhrle J. Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity. 2013;20(5):441–448.

    Full citation
    Köhrle J. “Selenium and the Thyroid.” Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity. 2013;20(5):441–448.
    View source
  5. 05
    Source referenceSelenium Accumulation by Plants.

    White PJ. Annals of Botany. 2016;117(2):217–235.

    Full citation
    White PJ. “Selenium Accumulation by Plants.” Annals of Botany. 2016;117(2):217–235.
    View source
  6. 06
    Source referenceNopal Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) as a Source of Bioactive Compounds for Nutrition, Health and Disease.

    El-Mostafa K, El Kharrassi Y, Badreddine A, et al. Molecules. 2014;19(9):14879–14901.

    Full citation
    El-Mostafa K, El Kharrassi Y, Badreddine A, et al. “Nopal Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) as a Source of Bioactive Compounds for Nutrition, Health and Disease.” Molecules. 2014;19(9):14879–14901.
    View source