Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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What is the best way to get proper intake of selenium? Right now, my only real food intake is wild scallops, but I doubt that I am getting enough, especially since many have suggested that I supplement because of low thyroid function.

I am looking at purchasing Source Naturals Selenium. This is "organically bound" using yeast, but I see that there are some options that are yeast free. Does it matter which one I choose? Does the yeast factor help with absorption (assuming no problems with yeast)?

edited Jan 4 2012 at 16:41

asked Oct 19 2011 at 21:51

Jack Kronk
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Yeast free doesn't have the proven benefits of the selenium bound yeast. – cliff Oct 19 2011 at 22:16

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cliff - that's what I was suspicious of. Do you have a good source that discusses this? – Jack Kronk Oct 19 2011 at 23:02

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I've opted for brazil nuts daily. I enjoy them and have no portion control issues with them and I already take too many darn pills so I thought this was a great option for me. – Shari Bambino Oct 19 2011 at 23:40

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I could have sworn I saw chris masterjohn commenting on it but I couldn;t find it on google. If you google search selenium yeast vs selenium methione you will get a ton of hits. – cliff Oct 19 2011 at 23:46

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I think every response actually got a downvote. Selenium troll. Or evil selenium villain who hordes the world's supply of selenium and wants to reduce selenium awareness at all costs so he/she can have all the selenium to him/herself. – Phoenix Oct 20 2011 at 21:32

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Phoenix · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-20 01:44:54Z UTC

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Regarding high-selenium yeast versus non-yeast selenium:

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/101/19/1363.long

answered Oct 20 2011 at 1:44

Phoenix
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Also, that Source Naturals selenium has an awesome price. – Phoenix Oct 20 2011 at 1:48

Matt · Answer 2 · 2011-10-19 22:13:51Z UTC

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Brazil nuts. 1 nut = 137% DV Selenium.

answered Oct 19 2011 at 22:13

Matt
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1 nut also contains 1g of PUFA..... – cliff Oct 19 2011 at 22:33

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I eat 1 Brazil nut per day for the selenium. I'm not going to stress out about "1g of PUFA". Regarding the radium/barium, The Incredible Hulk, Spider Man, and many others seem to be in pretty good shape. – FED at LiveCaveman.com Oct 19 2011 at 23:29

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inb4 "Are radioactive spiders paleo?" thread – Travis Culp♦ Oct 19 2011 at 23:36

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Free-range, organically reared, high-welfare, radioactive spiders are part of my supplement regimen. I allow one to bite me pre-workout; it’s been giving me a real boost. I’ve never won so many rock climbing competitions! – Simibee Oct 19 2011 at 23:42

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I'd heard that Brazil nuts do have some higher levels of radioactive isotopes. Though I'm not sure I'd worry too much about an occasional serving of Brazil nuts. 0.3% by weight is quite a bit. 3 mg/g, 15 mg/nut. That's not a trivial amount. So maybe one should be concerned. Perhaps better to use Brazil nuts as an occasional dose of selenium. I don't know. You could probably get by with less than a nut per day (minimizing the Ra/Ba) and have normal levels of selenium. – Matt Oct 20 2011 at 0:50

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Lady_Arwen · Answer 3 · 2011-10-19 23:16:05Z UTC

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The Jaminets of the Perfect Health Diet book- their version of Paleo + white rice (safe starch) recommend 3 Brazil nuts/day. That's what they eat.

answered Oct 19 2011 at 23:16

Lady_Arwen
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Hi Lady, actually we favor supplementation of selenium, but Brazil nuts are a food alternative. – Paul Jaminet Jan 4 2012 at 16:42

Interesting Paul. I must go reread your thoughts on this. I had switched to Brazil nuts in favor of supplements because I thought that's what you preferred. Now that you've "won me over" I want to get this right! ;) – Shari Bambino Jan 4 2012 at 17:33

Jan · Answer 4 · 2011-10-20 13:31:23Z UTC

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I eat lamb kidneys several times a week. Cheap source of minerals.

answered Oct 20 2011 at 13:31

Jan
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AdrianaG · Answer 5 · 2011-10-20 00:27:06Z UTC

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1-2 brazil nuts for me per Dr. K.

answered Oct 20 2011 at 0:27

AdrianaG
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Jay · Answer 6 · 2011-10-20 13:05:57Z UTC

I get my selenium from food (e.g., eggs, meat, produce). I live in NYC and buy a lot of my food from NJ or the Hudson valley, both of which have soils with decent concentrations of selenium.

If you do supplement, I would use a lower dose since there isn't much, or really any, good data for the higher doses and interactions are more likely (iodine, etc). I like New Chapter's brand (and used to use it sporadically). I stopped because it is 100mcg, which is still kind of high. Ideally, I would try to try to find a natural food brand that delivers no more than 50mcg.

Evelyn aka CarbSane · Answer 7 · 2012-01-04 20:25:21Z UTC

I supplement and here's why. (1) Not a big enough fan of Brazil nuts to make them a regular part of my diet, and (2) I discovered I was probably Se deficient quite by accident. I don't recall why I decided to supplement, but it magically cured my insomnia that I always thought was just stress related. But how could I be Se deficient when I went on sushi kicks and eat a lot of Se-rich seafood? Well Mario (who has guest blogged on PHD) mentioned that the mercury levels in seafood might be countering the Se.

My thoughts on supplements are that ideally you get most micronutrition from foods, but sometimes you just can't. And sometimes there's enough of a compelling reason to get more than the minimum based on studies or personal experience. I make it a habit never to start/stop more than one supplement at a time so that my personal experiments can be as helpful as possible. Then, in the end, if a supp falls in the "can't hurt" category -- and I include the financial hurt in that equation -- I'll use it.

Travis Culp · Answer 8 · 2011-10-19 23:20:08Z UTC

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http://www.foodcomp.dk/v7/fcdb_foodnutrlist.asp?CompId=0069

answered Oct 19 2011 at 23:20

Travis Culp♦
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Selenium: Via Food and/or Supplementation?

8 Answers