The selenium status of children with phenylketonuria: results of selenium supplementation

The selenium status of children with phenylketonuria on a synthetic low phenylalanine diet was assessed. Correlation between blood selenium and red cell glutathione peroxidase was unsatisfactory (r = 0.65) due to the poor discrimination of red cell glutathione peroxidase with a low selenium diet. No symptoms of deficiency were observed. Supplementation with 50 micrograms per week of selenium as brewers yeast tablets over a period of 6 months significantly increased the blood selenium of the phenylketonuric children. Plasma Vitamin E levels were within normal limits. The supplementation effectively doubled their selenium intake to 15-17 micrograms per day, which is probably sufficient for this group with an adequate Vitamin E status, though considerably lower than the recommended minimum intake of 50 micrograms per day.