Effect of dietary fish on plasma selenium and its relation to haemostatic changes in healthy adults

Since fish is a food rich in selenium in Sweden, selenium status among healthy adults was studied after a change to a diet containing 150-200 g of fish per day. In two experiments the fish diet was maintained for 6 and 11 weeks. The mean increase in plasma selenium was 0.13 mumol/l (13%). Most of the increase was evident already after 3 weeks. In previous studies of the same individuals this diet caused a delay in primary haemostasis and a decrease in platelet aggregability. There was no apparent temporal relationship between the increase in plasma selenium and the increase in bleeding time and the proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid in platelet or plasma phosphatidylcholine. Further analysis is necessary to distinguish the effects of fish fatty acids and selenium on haemostatic functions.