Why our bodies need selenium, and some excellent vegan sources

Why do we need selenium? Here we’ll explain why selenium is an essential nutrient for human health, and go on to list some excellent vegan selenium sources.

Selenium acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells against damage from free radicals, as well as helping with thyroid functioning and protecting against damage to DNA. Selenium deficiency can lead to a range of health problems including tiredness, hair loss, poor immunity, and reproductive difficulties. However, an excess of selenium can cause toxicity, leading to nausea, irritability, and other symptoms.

So it’s important to get an adequate amount of selenium in your diet, but not too much. Recommended daily intakes are about 60 μg (microgrammes) for women and 75 μg for men, whilst daily intakes above 300 μg can cause toxicity.

There are many vegan food sources of selenium. Because selenium is present in soil, most foods grown in soil will contain some selenium. However, the amount of selenium they contain can vary considerably, depending on the amount of selenium in the soil. For example, selenium levels in soil in the UK are relatively low, and consequently many people in the UK have selenium intakes that fall short of the recommended amounts. 

The typical levels of selenium found in some good vegan selenium sources are given below, based on typical serving sizes: