Selenium Rich Foods: Our Top 10

Dietary Selenium & Uses

Finding rich dietary sources of selenium is not so easy, as many soils are heavily depleted in selenium. Because of this, we’ve put together a list of top 10 foods rich in selenium to help you in your nutritional journey.

When you eat your selenium rich food, dietary selenium is absorbed in the small intestine. Most studies quote our recommended daily allowance for selenium intake as about 200 micrograms a day.

Dietary selenium is generally digested and then absorbed as organically bound selenium, or how it occurs naturally in cells, as selenocysteine and selenomethionine.

These form the selenoproteins that are used in the body as an antioxidant, preventing cancer growth and protecting key metabolic functions.

Organic selenium has more uses than this in the body though, you can read our article on how selenium could benefit your health here or see the chart below for more information.

Soil Selenium Content & Enrichment

Soil selenium levels are becoming a growing concern as not all plants take up the same amounts of selenium and our growing global population is becoming more deficient in selenium.

The selenium content in food is quite dependent on the amount of selenium that there is in the soil. Grains, seeds and fruits grown in selenium rich soils, compared to selenium poor soil, will contain the most selenium.

There may be variations in the selenium content of our selenium rich foods list. This is because of how or where the foods are grown. These are all biological factors or variable that need to be considered by farmers or when growing your own produce.

The same can be said for pasture grown animal meats, where selenium richness of the soil or feed will indicate the strength of selenium in the meat eaten.

If you grow your own vegetables or plant foods you can add inorganic elemental selenium or organic selenium to enrich the soil. You can also use selenium enrichment in aquaponics for growth of lettuces for example, if you are looking to start sustainable home-grown agriculture.

If you are a keen plant grower, in an aquaponic or water-based plant growing system, selenium enrichment boosted plant weight, plant nitrogen content, antioxidant activity and photosynthesis.

There is no set guarantee of selenium uptake percentages though with plant species. As mentioned, some plants can uptake certain minerals at different rates, some of this is environmentally dependent too.

Selenium Toxicity

Excess selenium can also be toxic, carrying its own side effects. Toxicity ranges are believed to originate at around 400µg of selenium a day. Most studies believe that there is a very narrow range for RDA to toxicity.

Seafoods also contain selenium in their tissues. Other selenium rich foods include beef, chicken and eggs. Let’s cover some of these naturally rich selenium foods in a bit of detail.

Top 10 Selenium Rich Foods

Brazil Nuts

Brazil nuts are one of our favourite nutrient dense foods. Nutrient density is important in nutrition, because of the digestion rate and efficiency of nutrient absorption.

These nuts are produced by the Brazil nut tree, being one of the most ancient native trees to the amazon. This ancient nutrient powerhouse contains selenium at levels beyond your normal plant or animal food.

The highest average selenium level detected in Brazil nuts is about 60µg per gram of Brazil nuts. The levels per nut do vary, with this being the highest level of selenium per gram of  Brazil nut.

These numbers are absolutely phenomenal, blowing away any of the nearest competition for selenium level.

Brazil nuts contain other nutrients too including vitamin E, copper, phosphorus and manganese.

One Brazil nut weighs about 5 grams, with the RDA at 200µg, so you can eat just a small handful of Brazil nuts for your RDA of Selenium. You’ll need to pay attention to the number of these delicious nuts that you eat, because you can overdose on selenium quite easily with Brazil nuts.

If you are looking for a selenium increasing or dense food to add to your diet, then this nut is the one for you. Brazil nuts are at the top of all of our selenium rich foods.

Brazil Nut Milk

While the Brazil nut offers an incredible amount of selenium, you might prefer a different food form. You could purchase Brazil nut milk as an alternative food to Brazil nuts.

A similar offering to almond or macadamia milks for example, the milk from Brazil nuts offers another selenium rich food solution.

The selenium content in Brazil nut milk is not as plentiful as the raw nut, offering around 7µg per gram of Brazil nut milk.

Once again you will have to be careful about how much you drink. This is because a pint of Brazil nut milk can put you into the toxicity range for selenium. This food comes in second of our top selenium rich foods.

Beef

Beef is a staple meat many people are used to eating across the world, although considered a luxury in some areas.

The selenium content in beef is not as high as the Brazil nut, containing about 0.40µg per gram of meat. Let’s say you eat 200 grams of beef. That would be equivalent to about 80µg of selenium in one sitting.

While not as strong as Brazil nuts, this is not so bad. It gives an idea of how people are in selenium deficiency. Clearly beef is one of the most versatile cooking meats as well, more so than fish. As a selenium rich food it makes it onto the list as a strong contender.

Beef Liver

Organ meats are naturally quite rich in selenium and beef liver is one of these. Pan fried beef liver has 0.33µg selenium per gram of liver.

Another of our favourite nutrient rich foods, beef liver offers high reference value amounts of nutrients such as vitamins D and A.

Chicken

One cooked chicken breast contains 0.27µg of selenium per gram of meat, it is easy to add this in a meal and gives you a rough idea of how much selenium you are taking in per meal.

Lets say you are eating 200 grams of chicken, that should contain 54µg of selenium. This is not nearly enough to cover you RDA for the day but a relatively selenium rich food.

Eggs

Eggs are another staple food globally and easy to integrate into one’s diet. The yolk of eggs was measured to contain about 0.60µg per gram of selenium.

This is more than beef per gram and will depend on the soil where the chickens are receiving feed from.

Clams

Particular seafoods can be rich sources of selenium. One of the more difficult foods to integrate into a diet are clams.

Cooked clams are very popular across the Mediterranean, containing 0.64µg of selenium per gram of cooked clam meat. Clams are really nutrient dense and very easy to eat but must be cooked correctly.

Certain clams can offer nutrients such as iron, copper and zinc, while also providing various amino acids.

Crustaceans

Ocean crustaceans such as prawns or shrimps close to the South American region of the amazon were found to contain 1.08µg per gram of selenium.

Again, this is quite a lot of selenium, more so than beef.

Sardines

Another of our favourite nutrient dense foods here are sardines. Rich in calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D, sardines carry 0.53µg of selenium per gram of sardine meat.

As a cooking ingredient, sardines are really flexible. You can integrate or substitute them into many dishes. While not as high in selenium as Brazil nuts, sardines offer a range of additional nutrients that are good for you.

Garlic

Mild selenium toxicity is associated with a garlic like odour to one’s breath. It is not a surprise that garlic is a naturally rich source of this nutrient.

Garlic contains approximately 0.05µg per gram of selenium. For vegetation this is quite a lot of selenium, while soils can also be enriched with selenium to boost their intake. Try adding some organic garlic into your diet.

Conclusion

Selenium is essential for normal heart function and for protecting the body from oxidative damage.

Levels of the key antioxidant selenium in the soil are quite depleted. This makes it difficult to obtain the correct amount of selenium each day, especially for vegetarians.

While global selenium deficiency levels are fairly high, the toxicity profile of selenium is also narrow. This means you need to be aware that you can easily eat too much selenium.

Brazil nuts are one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet for selenium, with a handful of selenium being able to satisfy ones daily nutritional needs.

Other nutrient dense or rich sources of selenium include eggs or seafoods.

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