Selenium Supplementation and Male Infertility

Clinical studies show that daily supplementation with selenium can improve male fertility [Moslemi et al.; Safarinejad & Safarinejad; Scott et al.].

Stork bringing baby
Sperm motility is a parameter of sperm analysis used to evaluate the ability of sperm to move in a forward direction. Poor sperm motility is associated with diminished male fertility. Adequate serum selenium status (> 90-100 mcg/L) is associated with improved sperm quality and improved sperm motility.
Selenium Supplementation of Men in Iran in 2009

 In a 2009 study lasting 26 weeks, researchers in Teheran randomly assigned infertile men, average age 31 years, range 25-48 years, to the following groups [Safarinejad & Safarinejad]:

  1. selenium supplementation group (n=116; dosage = 200 mcg/day)
  2. N-acetyl-cysteine group (n=118; dosage = 600 mg/day)
  3. selenium supplementation group (n=116; dosage = 200 mcg/day) plus N-acetyl-cysteine (dosage = 600 mg/day)
  4. placebo group (n=118)
Outcomes of the 2009 Iranian selenium study:
  •  All semen parameters significantly improved with the selenium treatment and with the N-acetyl-cysteine treatment.
  • Administering selenium plus N-acetyl-cysteine resulted in additive beneficial effects.
  • There was a significant positive correlation between the seminal plasma concentrations of selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine and the semen parameters.
  • There was a strong correlation between the sum of the selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine concentrations and the mean sperm concentration, sperm motility, and percentage of normal morphology sperm.
Selenium Supplementation of Men in Iran 2011

In an open-label study of 690 infertile men, average age 28.5 years, range 20-45 years, who received a daily selenium supplement (200 mcg) together with a daily synthetic vitamin E (400 units, α-tocopherol) for at least 100 days, the researchers concluded that supplemental selenium and vitamin E improve semen quality and have beneficial effects on sperm motility [Moslemi et al.]. read more

Selenium and Heart Failure Risk

Cardiologists at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands have published a comprehensive review of the current knowledge about selenium deficiency and the role of selenoproteins in heart failure patients [Al-Mubarak 2021].

Cardiologist
Heart failure is a form of heart disease with high morbidity and mortality and with increasing prevalence. It is estimated that there are more than 26 million heart failure patients worldwide. Suboptimal selenium intakes and status adversely affect heart muscle function.

The key points in their review are as follows:

  • Selenium is an essential micronutrient. It is incorporated into 25 different selenoproteins that have many biological functions in the body.
  • Suboptimal selenium intakes and status lead to the impaired cellular synthesis of these selenoproteins and to the diminished function of selenoproteins, which may aggravate oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which are associated with greater severity of heart failure.
  • 70% of patients diagnosed with heart failure have suboptimal serum selenium levels (below 100 micrograms per liter).
  • The heart failure patients with suboptimal serum selenium concentrations have lower exercise capacity, lower quality of life, and a worse prognosis than heart failure patients with serum selenium concentrations above 100 mcg/L.
  • Clinical trials of the efficacy of selenium supplementation in patients with heart failure have shown improved clinical symptoms such as improvements in NYHA function class, in left ventricular ejection fraction, and in lipid profile.
Selenium Deficiency and Heart Failure
Observational Studies of Selenium Concentration and Heart Failure

Three meta-analyses have provided evidence of a relationship between selenium status and the risk of heart disease:

Studies of Selenium Supplementation – the KiSel-10 Study

The most interesting clinical study is the KiSel-10 study in which elderly community living citizens, average age 78 years, with low selenium status (mean baseline status: 67.1 mcg/L), were treated with a combination of 200 mcg of an organic high-selenium yeast preparation and 200 mg of Coenzyme Q10 daily for four years. read more