A New Method for Calculating Selenium Content and Determining Appropriate Selenium Levels in Foods

Calculating the selenium content per 100 kcal, 100 g or 100 mL, or the reference amount customarily consumed (RACC) of food shows the selenium content of some foods inappropriately. So, making some food choices based on them to achieve adequate selenium intake may increase the risks of some chronic diseases. Calculating the selenium content and determining appropriate selenium levels (to achieve adequate selenium intake) based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), and the proposed method were performed in 6,961 food items. Making some food choices based on the FDA and CAC per serving (the serving is derived from the RACC) or CAC per 100 g or 100 mL to achieve adequate selenium intake exceeded energy needs, which could lead to overweight or obesity. Making some food choices based on the CAC per 100 kcal or CAC per 100 g or 100 mL to achieve adequate selenium intake did not meet selenium requirements, which could lead to selenium deficiency. Some foods that met selenium requirements were not appropriate food choices based on the CAC per 100 g or 100 mL or CAC per serving to achieve adequate selenium intake. On the basis of the proposed method, calculating the selenium content and determining appropriate selenium levels in foods are performed by considering RACCs and the energy content of foods. Thus, making food choices based on the proposed method met selenium requirements and did not exceed energy needs. About 94.5% of foods contained selenium. On the basis of the proposed method, the average (%) of foods containing appropriate selenium levels in food groups was 51.19%, of which 16.87% was the average of selenium source (good source of selenium) foods, and 34.32% was the average of high selenium (excellent source of selenium) foods. Finfish and shellfish products with 99.22%, poultry products with 98.45%, meals, entrees, and side dishes with 95.16%, pork products with 94.59%, beef products with 92.58%, fast foods with 90.78%, sausages and luncheon meats with 86.16%, lamb, veal, and game products with 77.85%, restaurant foods with 76.74%, American Indian/Alaska Native foods with 71.21%, and cereal grains and pasta with 63.12% had the highest averages of foods containing appropriate selenium levels. The highest amounts of selenium were found in Brazil nuts, kidney, liver, oyster, sea lion meat, chicken giblets, spleen, blue mussel, cuttlefish, octopus, orange roughy, lobster, rockfish, tuna, pork ham, whelk, swordfish, pancreas, turkey giblets, halibut, clam, breakfast cereal (made with whole hard wheat or wheat germ), abalone, squid, beef lungs, pasta (except gluten free), heart, mackerel, pork loin, sheefish, tilapia, lamb testes, sardine, Atlantic cod, emu meat, tilefish, sheepshead, chicken wing meat, shrimp, snapper, ostrich meat, crab, chicken back meat, egg noodles, cheese lasagna, hard wheat, whale meat, bass, bluefish, butterfish, croaker, cusk, mahi-mahi, grouper, herring, common ling, lingcod, monkfish, striped mullet, ocean pout, pollock, pompano, wild Atlantic salmon, chinook salmon, chum salmon, wild coho salmon, scup, seatrout, smelt, spot (fish), wolffish, yellowtail, European turbot, bison meat, pork shoulder, couscous, sockeye salmon, beef bottom round, beef shoulder center and shoulder top steaks, turkey gizzard, sablefish, American shad, beaver meat, beef medallion, beef round knuckle, chicken breast meat, whiting, beef top round steak, chicken gizzard, crayfish, beef top blade steak, pink salmon, beef mock tender steak, conch, pork stomach, beef round eye pot roast, spaghetti, beef top sirloin steak, beef lip-on ribeye, beef lip-off ribeye, beef tenderloin steak, beef arm pot roast, sunflower seed butter, beef brisket flat half, pulled pork in barbecue sauce, beef shoulder pot roast, beef ribeye petite roast, rabbit meat, mutton meat, turkey leg meat, Braunschweiger (a liver sausage), liverwurst, steelhead trout, turkey neck meat, beef top loin steak, beef under blade steak and under blade pot roast, and turkey back meat. Foods containing appropriate selenium levels were not found in three food groups (fats and oils; fruits and fruit juices; spices and herbs) and were few in three food groups (sweets; vegetables and vegetable products; beverages).