Most Americans Don't Need Extra Selenium
Mar-03-2012

Taking selenium? You may not need to. There's new evidence to suggest that selenium supplements aren't necessary for most Americans. They may even cause harm.
And if you pop a daily multivitamin, as more than one-third of Americans do, check the label. Many multivitamin and mineral formulas contain selenium.
"It isn't always that more is better. More often, 'more' isn't better. Really, in terms of selenium, that was one of the points I wanted to bring out," says researcher Margaret P. Rayman, DPhil, a biochemist at the University of Surrey in the U.K.
In a research review published in The Lancet, Rayman concludes that most Americans get enough selenium in their diets.
And a few studies included in the review suggest that taking more selenium in supplements may increase the risk for type 2 diabetes, though evidence is conflicting on that point.
Experts who were not involved in the study agree that most Americans shouldn't be taking extra selenium.
"There is no evidence that selenium supplementation of the U.S. population would be helpful," says Raymond F. Burk, MD, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
"In fact, there have been suggestions from recent work that it might be harmful, although this has not been conclusively proven. Thus, based on present knowledge I would not recommend selenium supplementation," says Burk, who studies the health effects of selenium.

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