Blood Selenium Levels of Norwegians Compared to Their Se Intakes

Abstract

Norwegian soils are known to be poor in selenium. Normally this would imply low blood-Se levels in the population. Several investigations (Blekastad et al. 1984; Meltzer et al. 1985; Ringstad et al. 1987) have, however, shown that the serum-Se levels of Norwegians are remarkably uniform and relatively high (110–127 µg 1⁻¹) when compared to results from the other Nordic countries (Mutanen et al. 1985; Akesson and Öckerman 1985). Fifty percent of our bread flour consists of imported American or Canadian wheat with approximately 0.6 ppm Se, which is four to five times higher than our locally grown grain. In addition, our fish consumption is on an average slightly higher than in most other European countries.

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