[Serum selenium levels in the population of four regions in southern Moravia]

The paper deals with the problem of selenium in the food chain of man. The authors investigated the serum selenium concentration of healthy blood donors in four South Moravian regions. Consistent with other authors they found a marked deficiency of this element. While optimal values in analyzed samples were found in 11% in the Trebíc area, 5% in the Vyskov and Brno area, in the Znojmo area no specimens belonging in that group were found. Based on the assembled results the authors consider 22% of the South Moravian population selenium deficient. With regard to this finding it would be useful to modify the therapeutic pattern in some serious conditions. The question remains what to do for the general population. There are several possibilities: adding selenium to fertilizer leading to higher contents in food, administration of selenium preparations, mixing agricultural products containing high and low selenium concentration and finally complete knowledge of selenium metabolism.