Since there is now good evidence that deficiency of selenium in our diet encourages the development of cancer, many people are taking supplementary selenium in the form of a tablet every day. One must be careful not to take too much selenium, however, since it can be very toxic if taken in excess.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (33:157) contains the story of a 57-year-old woman who took one selenium tablet daily and, after 11 days of this dosage, began losing her hair and developed sore fingertips. Continuing with the selenium because, at the time, she did not know that is was causing her problems, she slowly lost all of her hair during the next two months and developed a discharge around her nails, all of which she later lost as well. In addition, she suffered with episodes of nausea and vomiting, a sour-milk breath odor, and increasingly severe fatigue.

Eventually, her doctor found that her selenium blood level was four times higher than normal, and that this, in turn, was due to the selenium tablets being more than 100 times stronger than advertised.

The tablets (now recalled from the market) had been distributed in 15 states coast to coast. Knowing what to look out for, we should be able to quickly recognize selenium overdosage and protect ourselves against this danger.

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Tags: General health

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