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Dietary selenium intake by men and women in high and low selenium areas of Punjab

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This survey collected and analyzed the foods eaten by rural adults in a seleniferous area of Punjab, India, and in a nearby area with ordinary soils. Intake in the seleniferous area was about nine to ten times higher, and most men there exceeded the 600 µg per day value the authors treat as the maximum limit. Hair, nail and urine selenium were tens of times higher, and some residents reported hair loss and nail damage consistent with selenosis.

Key numbers

  • Mean (SE) selenium intake, seleniferous area: men 632 (31.2) µg/day, women 475 (52.8) µg/day, n = 40 each (Table 2, p. 41).
  • Non-seleniferous area: men 65 (2.2) µg/day, women 52 (1.0) µg/day, n = 40 each (Table 2, p. 41).
  • Above 600 µg/day: 60% of men and 7.5% of women in the seleniferous area; above 819 µg/day: 15% of men and one woman (Discussion; Table 3, p. 42).
  • Hair selenium in men: 255 (25) µg/100 g versus 4.97 (1.4) µg/100 g; fingernails 440 (193) versus 10.21 (1.80) µg/100 g (Table 2, p. 41).
  • Urine selenium in men: 26.7 (6.3) versus 1.20 (0.3) µg/100 mL (Table 2, p. 41).
  • Symptoms in the seleniferous area: hair loss in 7 of 40 men and 6 of 40 women; nail loss in 1 man and 5 women; nail blackening in 2 men and 6 women (Table 4, p. 42).

Methods (brief)

Forty families per area (one man and one woman each) were surveyed between November 1997 and January 1998. Raw equivalents of all foods eaten, milk and drinking water were sampled and analyzed by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry after acid digestion; intake was computed from consumption and measured concentrations. Hair, nails and urine came from consenting subsets.

Evidence fitness

Supports evidence that locally grown food on seleniferous soils can push intake well above the upper levels the authors cite, with biomarker elevation and reported selenosis signs. Symptoms were self-reported or observed without a control comparison in Table 4, so they do not establish a dose-response threshold.

Limitations

Small biomarker subsets; no quality control or detection limits reported; individual food concentrations are not tabulated; symptom data only for the endemic area.

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