Recommended Selenium Intakes

Reference from the joint report of FAO/WHO expert consultation on Human Vitamins and Minerals verbatim.

87. National Research Council, Food and Nutirtion Board. 1988. Recommended Dietary Allowances, 10 edition. Washington, D.C. US National Academy Press.

18. Yang, G-Q., Zhu, L-Z., Liu, S-J., Gu, L-Z., Qian, P-C., Huang, J-H. & Lu, M-D. 1984. Human selenium requirements in China. In: Selenium in Biology and Medicine. Combs, G.R., Spallholz, J.E., Levander, O.A., Oldfield, J.E. eds. p.589-607. New York, AVI Van Nostrand.

Because balance techniques were shown to be inappropriate for determining selenium requirements, the WHO-FAO-IAEA report (86) presented requirement estimates based on of epidemiologic evidence derived from areas of China endemic or non-endemic for Keshan disease (18).

These comprehensive biochemical and clinical studies showed that Keshan disease did not occur in regions where the mean intake of selenium by adult males or females was greater than 19.1 or greater than 13.3 μg/day, respectively. Although these intakes were sufficient to eliminate clinical evidence of myocarditis and other signs of Keshan disease, other studies showed that they were inadequate to restore erythrocyte or plasma selenium concentrations or GSHPx activities to levels indicative of reserves.

Studies with adult male subjects initially of low selenium status given a carefully monitored diet providing selenium at 11 μg/day together with supplements of selenomethionine given orally which provided 0, 10, 30, 60, or 90 μg/day. Starting at frankly deficient levels, total daily selenium intakes of above 41 μg/day were found sufficient increase plasma GSHPx substantially and to saturate plasma activity in 60-kg male subjects within 5–8 months.

It was estimated that satisfactory levels of plasma selenium (>80 μmol/l) and of GSHPx (>0.3 mmol NADPH oxidized/min/l; approximately two-thirds of plasma saturation activity) indicative of adequate selenium reserves would be attained after intakes ofapproximately 27 μg/day by 65-kg male subjects (86). 

Such criteria satisfying the definition of average normative requirements for selenium ( Se R normative ) have been used as the basis for calculating recommended nutrient intake (RNI) values in this report after interpolating estimates of average requirements by allowing for differences in weight and basal metabolic rate of age groups to up to 65 years and adding a 25 percent increase (2 x assumed SD) to allow for individual variability in the estimates of RNI (Table 52).

47. World Health Organization. 1998. Complementary Feeding of Young Children in Developing Countries \\WHO/NUT/98.1. Geneva, WHO.

50. World Health Organisation/International Atomic Energy Agency. 1989. Minor and Trace Elements in Milk. Geneva, WHO.

12. Rossipal, E. & Tiran, B. 1995. Selenium and glutathione peroxidase levels in healthy infants and children in Austria and the influence of nutrition regimens on these levels. Nutrition, 11 (5 suppl): 573-575.

89. Levander, O.A. 19893 Upper limit of selenium in infant formulas. J. Nutr., 119: 1869-1871.

13. Lombeck, I., Kasperek, K., Bonnermann, B. et al. 1975. Selenium content of human milk, cows milk and cows milk infant formulas. Eur. J. Pediatr., 139-145.

88. Lombeck, I., Kaspereck, K., Harbisch, H.D., Feinendegen, L.E. & Bremer, H.J. 1997. The selenium status of healthy children. I. Serum selenium concentration at different ages; activity of glutathione peroxidase of erythrocytes at different ages; selenium content of food of infants. Eur. J. Paediatr., 125: 81-88.

The estimates of RNI for infants (Table 52) are compatible with estimates of the international reference range of the selenium content of breast milk (18.5 μg /l; Table 49), with data from an extensive international survey of breast milk selenium (WHO-IAEA [50]) and with WHO data (47) on the milk consumption of exclusively human-milk-fed infants in developed and developing countries.

Data from the WHO-IAEA (50) survey from six countries suggest that the human milk from all countries met the RNI for infants aged 0–6 months. In two of six countries, Hungary and Sweden, the human milk selenium was marginal with respect to the RNI for infants aged 7–12 months. Data from Germany (13, 88), Austria (12), the United States (89), and elsewhere suggest that infant formula may contain selenium in amounts insufficient to meet the RNI or recommended dietary allowance for infants. 

Lombeck et al. (13) in an extensive study showed that cow-milk-based formula could provide less than one-third of the selenium of human milk. Estimates of selenium intake by 2-month-old infants were 7.8 μg/day from formula compared with 22.4 μg/day from human milk. Levander (89) has suggested that infant formulas should provide a minimum of 10 μg/day and not more than 45 μg/day.

61. Lonnerdal, B. 1997. Effects of milk and milk components on calcium, magnesium, and

trace element absorption during infancy. Physiol. Revs., 77: 643-669.

This recommendation may well have been implemented judging from recent increases in theselenium content of infant formulas (61).