Selenium deficiency
| Selenium deficiency | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Selenium | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | endocrinology |
| ICD-10 | E59 |
| ICD-9-CM | 269.3 |
| DiseasesDB | 11941 |
Selenium deficiency is relatively rare in healthy well-nourished individuals. Few cases in humans have been reported.
It can occur in patients with severely compromised intestinal function, those undergoing total parenteral nutrition, those who have had gastrointestinal bypass surgery, and also in persons of advanced age (i.e., over 90).
People dependent on food grown from selenium-deficient soil may be at risk for deficiency.
For some time now, it has been reported in medical literature that a pattern of side-effects possibly associated with cholesterol-lowering drugs (e.g., statins) may resemble the pathology of selenium deficiency.
In the USA, the Dietary Reference Intake for adults is 55 µg/day. In the UK it is 75 µg/day for adult males and 60 µg/day for adult females. 55 µg/day recommendation is based on full expression of plasma glutathione peroxidase. Selenoprotein P is a better indicator of selenium nutritional status, and full expression of it would require more than 66 µg/day.
Selenium deficiency in combination with Coxsackievirus infection can lead to Keshan disease, which is potentially fatal. Selenium deficiency also contributes (along with iodine deficiency) to Kashin-Beck disease. The primary symptom of Keshan disease is myocardial necrosis, leading to weakening of the heart. Kashin-Beck disease results in atrophy, degeneration and necrosis of cartilage tissue. Keshan disease also makes the body more susceptible to illness caused by other nutritional, biochemical, or infectious diseases.
...
Wikipedia