Tag: Deficiency

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Selenium Supplementation for Vegetarians and Vegans

Vegetarians and vegans, do they get enough selenium in their diets? It is an important question because the number of vegetarians around the world is growing for ethical and environmental reasons. How do we measure selenium status in various groups of people?

Vineyard in Germany with selenium-poor soil
The arable land in much of Europe contains a sub-optimal content of selenium, meaning that the plants grown there are also poor in selenium. Pictured: A vineyard in Germany.

Selenium is an essential trace element. Essential means that we have to get it from our food or from supplements. The human body does not synthesize selenium. What the body does synthesize is the selenoproteins, of which selenium in the amino acid selenocysteine is a key active component.

Particularly in much of Europe and the Middle East, the soil and the plants have relatively poor selenium content. In many countries, the farm animals are supplemented with selenium to improve their nutritional intakes and their health and to avoid selenium deficiency syndromes. read more

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Selenium Exposure Studies

Selenium exposure in the diet and in supplements: in this review article, we summarize the key outcomes of the best selenium exposure studies.

Optimal Selenium Intake and Status

In his review of the available research literature, Professor Urban Alehagen, Linköping University, Sweden, concluded that a daily intake of 100–150 mcg of selenium per day is required.

This is the intake level that enables an optimal expression of the important selenoprotein P that transports selenium from the liver to peripheral tissues [Alehagen 2022].  For other selenoproteins to be optimized, i.e., to be fully expressed, Prof. Alehagen argues that selenium status of approximately 120 mcg/L when measured in red blood cells is necessary [Alehagen 2022]. read more