What are the hazards of selenium to the human body?

As people's fear of cancer is getting worse day by day, especially many middle-aged and elderly people want to eat more selenium-containing foods to fight cancer. Therefore, we often see some elderly people always choose some selenium-containing rice to eat. In fact, excessive selenium is harmful to the human body. Therefore, we must control the intake when supplementing selenium. So what are the hazards of selenium to the human body?

Excessive intake of selenium can cause selenium poisoning. Like other elements, insufficient intake of selenium can cause disease, excessive intake can cause poisoning, and continuous intake of foods and water high in selenium can cause selenium poisoning. Symptoms of acute selenium poisoning include vomiting, abdominal pain, garlic breath, drooling, hair and nail loss, rash, peripheral neuritis, and in severe cases, respiratory disorders and respiratory failure. According to the acute toxicity classification, selenium is classified as highly toxic.

Therefore, when supplementing selenium, the maximum tolerable dose of selenium should not be exceeded to prevent poisoning due to excessive selenium intake. This intake will not cause adverse health effects in almost all individuals in the general population. Yang Guangxi and others from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, based on a survey of 349 residents in high-selenium areas, used changes in nail shape as a diagnostic indicator for poisoning, analyzed poisoning symptoms and the limit intake of biochemical changes in blood selenium, and obtained that the individual's lowest observable toxic intake (LOAEL) and no-observed-toxic intake (NOAEL) were 900 μg/d and 600 μg/d, respectively. They were used to calculate the upper tolerable intake level (UL), which was divided by the uncertainty factors of 1.8 and 1.2, respectively, to obtain the UI for high-selenium areas of 500 μg/d. Since the LOAEL and NOAEL data were from individuals in high-selenium areas, local residents have developed tolerance for living in high-selenium areas for a long time, so a safety factor of 1.25 should be added for residents in general areas, so that UL = 500/1.25-400 μg/d. The dietary nutrient intake parameters (DRIs) for residents formulated by the Chinese Nutrition Society in October 2000 also stipulate that the upper tolerable intake is 400 μg/d.

According to a survey conducted by Yang Guangxi and others from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine on 349 residents in high-selenium areas, changes in nail morphology were used as diagnostic indicators for poisoning to analyze the limit intake of poisoning symptoms and biochemical changes in blood selenium. The lowest toxic blood selenium level was found to be 1.05 μg/ml. The average lowest toxic intake (LOAEL) obtained from the experiment was 1,542±654 μg/d, and the individual lowest toxic intake was 900 μg/d. Since the latter has taken sensitive individuals into account, 900 μg/d is the lowest toxic intake.

Regarding the harm of selenium to the human body, I believe that through the above explanation, everyone should have a perfect understanding! Of course, I still want to emphasize that if you want to better prevent the occurrence of cancer, it is not only necessary to supplement selenium in time, but also we need to exercise more in our daily life and pay more attention to food hygiene, so that we can better maintain a healthy body condition!