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Article: Nutritional influences on illness.
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
- Article date:
- January 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Laboratory Testing in Nutritional Medicine--Part 2
Selenium
The definitive test for selenium deficiency remains the response to selenium supplementation. (1) Of the available tests, blood glutathione peroxidase is one that has been shown to be a sensitive index of selenium nutriture. (2)
Hair selenium is also of value. It is correlated with selenium intake as well as with selenium concentrations in the liver, lung and renal cortex. However, the use of selenium-containing shampoos will falsely elevate hair selenium levels. (3)
Toenail selenium, while unaffected by dietary intake in the prior 3 months, is a reasonable measure of intake ...