Although maintaining strong immunity is important during the winter to avoid colds and flu, a healthy immune system is one of the foundations for optimal health all year round. While necessary to every cell in the body, the antioxidant mineral selenium is particularly valuable to the immune system. Selenium plays a key role in our antioxidant system, helping to make glutathione, and regenerating major antioxidants like vitamins C and E so that they can be reused again and again. One way immune cells kill pathogens is with oxidative poisons. Without the protection of selenium, these poisons can harm the immune cells themselves, weakening them and making them less effective—sometimes even killing them. Selenium has also been shown to keep viruses from mutating into forms that are many times more destructive. Cumulative oxidative damage to immune cells over time causes the immune system to weaken with age. However selenium and other antioxidants can prevent and even reverse age-rel…