Although your body only needs small doses of selenium for good health, if the fruits and vegetables you eat were grown in selenium depleted soil, you may not be getting enough of this trace mineral. You get selenium by eating meat and fish. However, if the animals ate grains low in selenium or fish lived in water that did not contain adequate amounts of selenium, again, you may not be getting enough of it in your diet.Some minor symptoms of selenium deficiency include muscle weakness, muscle inflammation, muscle pain and red blood cell fragility. If you have any of these symptoms and suspect you are not receiving enough selenium, you may want to see your doctor to test for selenium deficiency.
Instructions
1. Eat foods generally higher in selenium content such as Brazil nuts, tuna, cod, turkey, mushrooms, brewers yeast or wheat germ. Selenium supplementation should not be a normal part of your daily habit. If testing by a health care professional shows you are low in selenium and have a health condition that may be helped by supplementation, your doctor may suggest you specifically take a selenium supplement.
2. Take selenium to prevent prostrate cancer when suggested by your health care professional. Studies have shown, with men who have a low selenium level but normal PSA levels, that supplementing may prevent prostrate cancer which seems to be a growing ailment in older men.
