Selenium in human nutrition: dietary intakes and effects of supplementation

The dietary selenium intakes of a young couple residing in Southern California were determined to be 107 and 99 micrograms/day for the husband and the wife, respectively, on the basis of a 30 day study. For other young adult Californians, the selenium intakes were estimated from 90 to 168 micrograms/day. The highest intakes were observed in individuals subsisting on diets rich in whole wheat grain cereal products and seafoods. The selenium concentrations in whole blood of the subjects under study correlated with the dietary selenium intakes directly (P less than 0.001). The administration of 150 micrograms of selenium/day in the form of commercially available supplements increases the blood selenium concentrations. After 3 weeks of supplementation, the selenium concentrations in whole blood of our subjects reached 0.21 micrograms/ml. Prolonged supplementation at higher Se dosage levels causes further increases of the blood concentrations: Two individuals who had been ingesting 350 and 600 micrograms/day for 18 months exhibited blood selenium levels of 0.35 and 0.62 micrograms/ml. The blood selenium concentration of all subjects declined slowly after cessation of supplementation. Selenium uptake from the supplements was not affected by the joint administration of zinc supplements at 15 mg zinc/day. Glutathione peroxidase blood levels did not correlate with blood Se concentrations.