Study: Selenium and Anemia

BALTIMORE—A recent study at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Md., found low-serum selenium was independently associated with anemia among older men and women in the United States (Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009;63:93-99) (DOI:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602889). Researchers examined 2,092 adults aged 65 and older, in the third National Nutrition Examination Survey, Phase 2 (1991–1994) (NHANES III). Anemia was present in 12.9 percent. Mean serum selenium among non-anemic and anemic adults was 1.60 and 1.51 mol l-1 (P=0.0003). The prevalence of anemia among adults in the lowest to highest quartiles of serum selenium was 18.3, 9.5, 9.7 and 6.9 percent, respectively (P=0.0005). The proportion of adults in the lowest quartile of selenium among those who were non-anemic or who had anemia due to nutritional causes, chronic inflammation, renal disease or unexplained anemia was 9.9, 27.5, 17.5, 24.0 and 15.4 percent, respectively. An increase in loge selenium was associated with a reduced risk of anemia (P=0.03), adjusting for age, race, education, body mass index (BMI) and chronic diseases.