Selenium and vitamin E intake may reduce mercury toxicity
How much mercury do you pick up from fish consumption each week?
The “provisional tolerable weekly intake” of mercury is 1.6 micrograms per kilogram of body weight, according to the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.
We appreciate the guideline, but unless you live with a chemist who can analyze and measure the chemical content of every fish you eat, there’s no way to estimate how much mercury you’re ingesting.
That’s the bad news. The good news: selenium and Vitamin E intake may reduce mercury toxicity.
In a recent study reported in Neurotoxicity and Teratology, researchers tested selenium and E supplements on rats that were also fed mercury. Vitamin E alone and selenium alone didn’t reduce toxicity. But when the nutrients were combined, toxicity was reduced, growth improved and survival time extended, compared to rats that didn’t receive nutrient supplements.
Hopefully researchers will devise a way to mount a similar trial with human subjects. But until then, you can’t go wrong including more E and selenium in your diet. For good sources of these nutrients, and for further evidence of the benefits of combining E and selenium, see the e-Alert “Worth more than Diamonds” (2/14/06), which you can find on our web site at hsionline.com.
Sources:
“Vitamin E and Selenium Could Reduce Mercury Toxicity” NutraIngredients, 2/2/06, nutraingredients.com
