Laura Schoenfeld: I don’t typically do a lot of selenium supplementation on its own unless I think someone has a pretty restricted diet, and if I am going to do any selenium supplementation, I’m not going to ever go above 200 micrograms. Most of our food, especially if somebody is on a Paleo diet, does contain a decent amount of selenium in it, and I don’t think most people are at risk for selenium deficiency unless they live in an area of the country where there is selenium deficiency in the soil. I believe the Midwest is prone to that. Don’t quote me on that, but I think there are some areas of the United States that are going to have less selenium in the soil. But even so, a lot of the foods that we eat on a Paleo diet are pretty high in selenium. Things like beef and lamb and shellfish and a lot of different animal foods are going to be higher in selenium, and then you can get it from things like Brazil nuts, so if somebody is concerned, they can add a couple of Brazil nuts every day to make sure they’re getting a regular intake of selenium. The one thing that is a problem with Brazil nuts is that they can vary in their dose of selenium, so you can’t necessarily guarantee that you’re getting as much as you need, but I don’t think a lot of people need to supplement with selenium.
I do see a lot of selenium in multivitamins. Most multivitamins will have, like, maybe 200 micrograms, which is the amount that I think is OK to supplement with, but I wouldn’t go above that. One issue I’ve seen before, not that I’ve ever seen anyone get poisoned by selenium, even though that’s potentially possible from overdosing, I do see people that will be taking different supplements that all contain selenium, and then they’re actually getting over the 400 micrograms per day that they really need. Just be careful about that if you see a client that’s supplementing with selenium. Just make sure that they’re not taking any other supplements that also contain selenium because it could be really easy to overdose on that, and there’s definitely some risk of toxicity from supplementing with selenium. I don’t think most people need to supplement if they’re eating a pretty diverse Paleo diet with lots of different animal and plant foods, but if they’re concerned about it or if they have some kind of thyroid issue and they want to add a little bit extra, then maybe up to 200 micrograms a day would be fine, and that’s in concert with the 150 to 225 micrograms of iodine, as well.