SparkNotes: Free Study Guides No Fear Shakespeare: The Bard made easy SparkCharts: Just the facts TestPrep: SAT, ACT, and more 101s: College texts condensed Subject Finder: Browse by subject SparkCollege: Get in! SparkLife: 100% study-free home_bottom home_top BN_link
 
Introduction
 
 
Terms
 
 
Iron
 
 
Zinc
 
 
Copper
 
 
Selenium
 
 
Vitamin A
 
 
Vitamin C
 
 
Vitamin D
 
 
Vitamin E
 
 
Clinical Nutritional Assessment
 
 
 
 
◄ PREVIOUS
Copper
NEXT ►
Vitamin A
 

Nutritional Assessment and Profiling: Biochemical

 
 

Selenium

 

Serum and Plasma Selenium

 
Serum and plasma selenium responds to short-term changes in diet and measuring the amounts of selenium in serum and plasma can indicate short-term selenium status. Normal selenium levels of the U.S. population fall within the range of 2.03-3.29 micromoles (mcmol) per liter (L).
 

Whole-Blood Selenium

 
Selenium levels in whole blood do not fluctuate much and are thus more indicative of long-term selenium status. A new technique that can be used to analyze serum, plasma or whole blood selenium is called graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. This method is fairly easy to execute and the resultant samples require little pretreatment.
 

Urinary Excretion

 
Urine samples reflect selenium content of the previous meal and are not useful for assessment of selenium status, though they can be used to detect toxicity.
 

Toenail Selenium

 
Toenail selenium is useful for assessment of long-term selenium status. Selenium is incorporated into toenails as they grow. Because the exposed toenail on which tests are done have long since ceased to grow, toenail selenium levels probably reflect zinc status as it stood six to nine months prior to testing.
 

Glutathione Peroxidase Activity

 
There is a correlation between blood glutathione peroxidase activity and blood selenium up to 1.2 mcmol/L. Beyond that point the activity plateaus, and cannot be used to determine selenium status. The test is not specific because other factors can affect glutathione peroxidase activity. Such factors include age, sex, ethnicity, iron-deficiency anemia, essential fatty acid deficiency, and vitamin B12 deficiency.
 
 
Help | Feedback | Make a request | Report an error | Send to a friend

◄ PREVIOUS
Copper
NEXT ►
Vitamin A
 
 
 
 
 
 
Message Boards
Ask a question or start a discussion on the community boards.
  • Nutritional Assessment
  • Health & Nutrition
  •  
     
     
    SparkCharts
    A textbook's worth of information on an easy-to-read chart.
  • General Anatomy
  • Medical Terminology
  • Muscular System
  • Nervous System
  • Nutrition
  • Nursing
  •  
     
     
    Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | About | Sitemap
    ©2008 SparkNotes LLC, All Rights Reserved.