Selenium is an important and powerful mineral that you may not have heard much about. It doesn’t get as much attention as B vitamins, zinc or vitamin C, but that needs to change.
Read on to learn all the important notes necessary to optimize your selenium status.
Signs of selenium deficiency:
If any of the following symptoms are familiar to you, it may warrant getting your selenium levels checked:
- IBD
- Crohn’s
- cardiovascular diseases
- infertility
- myodegenerative disorders
- cognitive impairment
- poor immune function
- thyroid dysfunction
- increased susceptibility to infection
- inflammation
- skin abnormalities
- loss of hair and skin pigmentation [1,2,3,4]
The role of selenium
The benefits of optimizing selenium levels are plentiful. While selenium is perhaps best known as a key ingredient in helping your body produce glutathione peroxidase, the main antioxidant in the body that fights oxidative stress, it also supports detoxification, gut and skin health.
Selenium is a cholagogue mineral, which means it can help increasing bile flow. This supports better detoxification and elimination (read: helps your body flush out waste and helps reduce constipation). Poor bile flow due to lack of bile building nutrients, dietary cofactors and/or Rx drugs is extremely common and leads to increased toxicity in the body. This is because when your bile flow is poor, you are more likely to accumulate bodily “junk” faster than you can get rid of it. Over time this can lead to increased inflammation, fatigue, weight gain and malaise.
Selenium deficiency is also linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): “Selenium deficiency is a common finding in IBD patients and is associated with disease severity. In addition, IBD patients have a lower abundance of protective gut microbes and the selenium can increase it’. [10]
Other benefits of selenium include supporting skin health, as it has been suggested as a nutrient that can fight psoriasis and skin cancer. [9]
How to get more in your diet
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for selenium in adults is 55 micrograms (mcg), with a safe upper limit of 400 mcg.
Getting more selenium in your diet can be difficult, especially if you have an excess of the nutrient that affects your food choices.
For example, many foods high in selenium are high in copper or vitamin A, which could be a conflict of interest when trying to increase selenium levels with food. [7]
- Brazil Nuts, 1 oz: 989% Daily Value*
- yellowfin tuna, 3 ounces: 167% daily value***
- sardines, canned in oil with bones, 3 ounces: 82% daily value
- ham, 3 ounces: 76% daily value**
- roast turkey, 3 ounces: 56% daily value;
- cottage cheese (1%), 1 cup: 36% daily value
- ground beef, 25% fat, 3 ounces: 33% daily value
- egg, one: 27% daily value**
- regular quick oatmeal, 1 cup ready-made: 24% daily value
*denotes food with a high copper content
**ie food with high vitamin A content
***denotes food with a high mercury content
Supplements for Selenium Deficiency
Selenium supplements can be tricky.
While it may be a better route for those who struggle to load up on high-selenium foods due to dietary restrictions, it is common to experience reactions to selenium supplementation. This is because selenium is a powerful mineral and food is much better tolerated than supplemental sources. That said, always start low and slow with selenium supplements to avoid taking more than your body can handle.
There are two main forms of selenium found in supplements, selenite and selenomethionine. Research shows that 90% of selenomethionine (this is the form found in animal tissue) is absorbed by humans, while only about 50% of selenium from selenite. [9]
Test-based supplementation is always the way to go, as selenium toxicity is also something you want to avoid. Common signs of toxicity include garlic breath, skin lesions, and brittle hair and nails. [9]
Screening for selenium deficiency
When it comes to assessing selenium levels in my clients around the world, hair tissue mineral analysis is my passion. Using a small hair sample, you can discover your selenium level along with 34 other minerals. The balance of these minerals (without deficiency or excess) is key to optimal health, so you can target your symptoms from a holistic nutritional perspective.
Learn more about hair tissue mineral analysis so you can remove the obstacles standing in your way to finding optimal health! Use coupon code ‘selenium’ until the end of the month to get $100 off a deluxe hair analysis package (trial and consultation).
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Get started right here or enter your email below to learn all about the best way to understand your own mineral levels with hair analysis.
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Bibliographical references:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29489289/#:~:text=Research%20suggests%20that%20selenium%20deficiency,myodegenerative%20disorders%2C%20and%20cognitive%20decline.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22381456/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36768955/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31078905/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35874733/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/selenium-deficiency
- https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Selenium-HealthProfessional/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/982619/
- https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/10/3059
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899900721000150
