Selenium Rich Foods List

Thank you for visiting our page on selenium rich foods where we will provide you with a wealth of information on many of the everyday foods that have selenium in them. As well as providing you with a comprehensive selenium rich foods list we will also tell you what selenium is.

This page is specifically about foods high in selenium, if you wish to learn more about the many benefits that selenium brings to the human body and also the other sources of selenium then please visit our page all about selenium benefits and sources.

What is selenium?

It is all very well being told that you need to top up your selenium levels or reading in a magazine that it is good for you to take on board regular amounts of selenium, but what is selenium? We are going to start off by answering that very question so you have a basic understanding of what selenium is. Selenium is a chemical element and is an essential mineral that our bodies need. It is one of several minerals that are known as 'trace minerals' because they are required in our bodies but only in small amounts. The human body's selenium content is believed to be approximately 12-20 milligrams. We talk about why the body may need selenium foods further down the page after our selenium rich foods list.

We hope that this explanation helps you to understand what selenium is, we will now go on to talk about foods high in selenium.

Selenium rich foods list

Now that we have answered the question 'what is selenium?' we will now provide you with a selenium rich foods list. As we have mentioned selenium is only a trace element so there is not a huge dietary requirement for it, selenium deficiency is something that is rare and taking on in too much of it is not the best idea in the world because in a large quantity it is toxic. A daily quantity that is deemed as tolerable in order to avoid toxicity should not exceed 400 micrograms, however the recommended daily allowance is only 70 micrograms. There are not a huge amount of selenium foods out there but the below list covers them as thoroughly as possible.

Selenium foods by type

Below is a list of selenium foods by their types, we will follow this with examples of foods that have the highest content of selenium in them. Selenium is a micronutrient that is found in plants, meat and meat products.

As you can see there are several groups of food that are classed as 'selenium foods' so it is hard for people not to take in the required amount of the mineral on a regular basis. We have mentioned that the recommended daily amount of selenium is 70 micrograms, well for those that don't know this is an incredibly small amount when you take into consideration that one microgram is a thousandth of a milligram! It really is easy to get the selenium that you require through foods high in selenium.

Foods high in selenium

It is believed that the foods with the highest selenium content are sea lions and Brazil nuts, below we have provided some exact nutritional information on these selenium rich foods:

• Brazil nuts (dried and unblanched) have 2550 micrograms of selenium per cup weighing 133 grams, there are also 872 calories in this serving.
• Brazil nuts have 537 micrograms of selenium per ounce or 28 grams, there are also 184 calories in this serving.
• Sea lion's liver has 194 micrograms of selenium per ounce or 28 grams, there are also 38 calories in this serving.
• Sea lion's liver has 693 micrograms of selenium per 100 grams, there are also 137 calories in this serving.

More information on our calories in food site.

Whereby we recommend eating Brazil nuts as a good source of selenium we do not condone the killing and consumption of sea lions.

One factor that is firmly believed to effect the amount of selenium in these foods (where applicable) is the selenium levels in the soil in which is it grown.

Why might you need selenium foods?

So why might you need to eat more of the selenium foods that we have highlighted in the above selenium rich foods list? What good does selenium actually do for the body? These are very valid questions and ones that we will now answer as best as possible.

Our bodies require selenium in order for the thyroid gland to function efficiently, it is also believed to help protect us against the damage that free radicals bring and also the cancer disease. As with almost all of the vitamins and minerals that there are, selenium helps maintain a strong immune system. If you experience a lack of selenium then you will develop a selenium deficiency and the result of this can be muscular and joint pain, white marks on your fingernails (often associated with a lack of calcium) and also damaged hair.

We have mentioned earlier on that the recommended daily allowance of selenium is 70 micrograms and that exceeding 400 micrograms a day can be damaging due to selenium's toxicity. If you take in selenium excessively this can lead to loss of hair, halitosis (bad breath) and also diarrhea.

We hope that our page on selenium rich foods has been useful to you and that the other information on selenium foods and our explanation as to what selenium is have been sufficient. There is much more to this site than just information on the trace mineral selenium, for further information on other trace elements such as iron, iodine and zinc please click here.