Annex B: Discussion paper on the effects of excess Selenium on maternal health
Published 4 September 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/8th-september-2026-committee-on-toxicity-meeting/annex-b-discussion-paper-on-the-effects-of-excess-selenium-on-maternal-health
This is a paper for discussion. This does not represent the views of the Committee and should not be cited.
1. Selenium Content in Foods
-
This annex provides a summary of the selenium content in the specific foods within the following food groups: nuts and seeds, offal, fish and crustaceans, milk and dairy products, meat and meat products, grains and vegetables and legumes. The selenium content is expressed in µg/100 g. UK sources of information on occurrence values have been used where possible. This table is for information only as the exposure assessment is based on a nutrient assessment for the maternal diet using National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) food consumption data.
-
Additionally, EFSA (2023) describe occurrence values for selenium in particular foods. Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa) from samples collected across Brazil and the Amazon Basin have been reported to contain between 5 and 72 μg/g of selenium (mean ,dry weight), with up to 400 μg/nut, indicating large variability depending on region (Pacheco and Scussel, 2007; Cardoso et al., 2017). There may be high seed-to-seed variation in selenium content within commercially available batches of Brazil nuts (Lima et al., 2019). Selenium concentrations in offal’s (e.g. mean content in kidney) from pig, lamb, and beef are reported to range from 1 - 3 μg/g. In fish and crustaceans, mean selenium concentrations have been reported to be between 1 - 3 μg/g in tuna, and 1 - 2 μg/g in shrimps, crabs, prawns (Anses, 2020; Public Health England, 2021; Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, 2022).
Table B1: Summary of reported selenium concentrations in foods identified as the main dietary sources of selenium.
High variability dependent on region of production (Pacheco and Scussel, 2007; Cardoso et al., 2017).
*Where nutridex contained data for more than one type of food i.e. salted and unsalted peanuts, the food with the highest selenium content was listed in this table.
** Where data for foods such as chia seeds are not available in UK based nutridex, US sources have been used.
# Rounded to the nearest whole number.