Selenium in Brazil nuts

[Guest guest]

Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. says:

" Adding Brazil nuts to your diet will help you reach the desired level

of 200 micrograms (mcg) per day. Here is an important tip: one

unshelled Brazil nut (the kind you must crack yourself) averages 100

mcg of selenium, according to Cornell Professor J. Lisk. On the

other hand, an already shelled Brazil nut averages 12 to 25 mcg. So,

while you can reach your daily requirement with two freshly hulled

Brazil nuts, it would take between 8 and 16 already-shelled nuts to

reach that level. "

If unshelled Brazil nuts have 100 mcg of selenium per nut, and shelled

ones have 25 mcg, this means that the shell, which is not eaten, has

75 mcg of selenium. Does Cornell Professor J. Lisk offer

another explanation?

However, this is in conflict with the USDA National Nutrient Database

for Standard Reference. CRON-o-Meter shows that 10 Brazil nuts have

958.5 mcg of selenium. This is 95.9 mcg per nut. This corresponds to

the USDA database entry for:

Nuts, brazilnuts, dried, unblanched

Scientific Name: Bertholletia excelsa

NDB No: 12078 (Nutrient values and weights are for edible portion)

Page 184 of BT120YD says: " Brazil nuts are by far the richest source

of selenium: one medium-sized nut contains 100 micrograms of selenium. "

So who is right?

Tony

>

> I quote:

>

> Plants take up selenium from the soil and propagate it through the food

> chain. Brazil nuts <http://www.cancerdecisions.com/121001.html>, in

> particular, like selenium. One unshelled Brazil nut (one you have to

> crack open yourself) contains an average of 100 micrograms (mcg) of

> selenium per nut. (Already shelled Brazil nuts have 12 to 25 mcg of

> selenium per nut.) Phytoplankton, the " plants of the sea, " extract and

> concentrate the even more minute amounts of selenium in ocean water and

> provide this needed element to fish. Selenium was identified as an

> essential trace element for mammals in 1957, and investigators now have

> determined <http://www.proteinscience.org/cgi/reprint/12/2/372> that

the

> cells of all organisms, bacterial, animal, and non-animal, need

selenium.

>

> from an interesting article on selenium from

>

> http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller24.html

>

> In particular my question is:

>

> Does an already shelled brazil nut lose 75% of its selenium?

>

> Positive Dennis

>