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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Western Human Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #149924
Title: ABSORPTION, DISTRIBUTION AND EXCRETION OF FOOD SELENIUM IN HEALTHY MEN

Author
item Hawkes, Wayne
item ALKAN, FULYA - USDA/ARS/WHNRC
item OEHLER, LYNN - BIONETICS CORP

Submitted to: Journal of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2003
Publication Date: 8/21/2003
Citation: Hawkes, W.C., Alkan, F.Z., Oehler, L. 2003. ABSORPTION, DISTRIBUTION AND EXCRETION OF FOOD SELENIUM IN HEALTHY MEN. Journal of Nutrition. 2003.

Interpretive Summary: Eleven healthy men were fed foods naturally high or low in selenium wile confined in a metabolic research unit for 120 days. During this time, the subjects ate 100% of the food prescribed to keep their body weight constant and all of their urine and feces was collected. The amount of selenium eaten in their food and excreted in their urine and feces was measured. Six of the subjects ate food that supplied 13 micrograms of selenium each day and the other five got 297 per day. Neither group fully adapted to the change in selenium - the high selenium group kept accumulating selenium and the low-selenium group kept losing selenium throughout the study. During depletion selenium was re-distributed from skeletal muscle to preserve selenium in other places like testes. The best indicator of recent selenium intake was plasma selenium, while selenium concentration in erythrocytes was the best indicator of long-term intake. This study shows that food selenium is metabolized very differently from the sodium selenite used in most previous research.

Technical Abstract: Eleven healthy men were fed foods naturally high or low in selenium wile confined in a metabolic research unit for 120 days. During this time, the subjects ate 100% of the food prescribed to keep their body weight constant and all of their urine and feces was collected. The amount of selenium eaten in their food and excreted in their urine and feces was measured. Six of the subjects ate food that supplied 13 micrograms of selenium each day and the other five got 297 per day. Neither group fully adapted to the change in selenium - the high selenium group kept accumulating selenium and the low-selenium group kept losing selenium throughout the study. During depletion selenium was re-distributed from skeletal muscle to preserve selenium in other places like testes. The best indicator of recent selenium intake was plasma selenium, while selenium concentration in