Selenium 200 mcg – Antioxidant and Immune Support | 60 Vegetarian Tablets

Mt. Angel Vitamins Selenium 200 mcg gives you 200 mcg of selenium in each vegetarian tablet as L-selenomethionine, the main form of selenium in food. That's 363% of the Daily Value in one tablet a day, and a 60-tablet bottle is a 60-day supply. Selenium helps your body build the enzymes that protect cells from oxidative stress and support normal immune function.†

Selenium is a trace mineral: you need only a little, but you do need it. Most Americans get enough from food: seafood, meat and poultry are rich sources, and grains and dairy add more. This tablet is for people who might not: those who eat mostly plants (plant selenium varies with the soil), eat little seafood or meat, or want a steady, measured amount instead of guessing.

Your cells handle oxidative stress every day, and the enzymes that do that work run on selenium.† Aging isn't optional. Getting old is. The habits you build in your 30s and 40s are the ones that keep you moving in your 70s and 80s.

Why people take Selenium 200 mcg

• To help protect cells from oxidative stress, since selenium is part of the glutathione peroxidase enzymes that break down peroxides.†
• To support normal immune function.†
• To support normal thyroid hormone metabolism, including the conversion of T4 into active T3.†
• To keep selenium intake steady with L-selenomethionine, a form the body can hold in reserve in its own proteins.†

What's in each serving

Serving size: 1 Vegetarian Tablet. Each bottle holds 60 vegetarian tablets, a 60-day supply at the label's serving. Other ingredients: Deep mined calcium phosphate, cellulose, vegetable stearate, silica, and magnesium stearate. The label states: "NO corn, soy, salt, yeast, gluten, milk & egg products, sugar, starch, or preservatives." It also states: "Our tablets are processed with cellulose under the Sol-U-Tab® process assuring each tablet is completely solubilized within minutes of swallowing."

How Selenium 200 mcg works

Selenium's real job: building selenoproteins

Your body builds selenium into 25 selenoproteins, according to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements selenium fact sheet. Among them are the glutathione peroxidases, which help break down hydrogen peroxide and protect the fats in cell membranes from oxidation. Others turn thyroid hormone into its active form, and selenoprotein P is one of the two main selenoproteins in your blood. A 2012 review of selenium and human health in The Lancet describes selenoproteins as having effects that range from antioxidant activity to the production of active thyroid hormone.†

Why L-selenomethionine

Supplements use selenomethionine, selenium yeast, sodium selenite or sodium selenate. Your body absorbs up to about 90% of the selenium from all of them, so the difference is what happens next.

Selenomethionine is the main form of selenium in food, and the "L" means it matches what food contains. Your body can use it right away or tuck it into its own proteins in place of the amino acid methionine, then release it as those proteins turn over (a review of selenomethionine's metabolism). That gives you a reserve instead of a quick pass-through.

In a 32-week trial in 33 young New Zealand women with marginal selenium status, participants took 200 mcg of selenium a day as selenium yeast (selenomethionine), as selenate, or a placebo. Selenomethionine raised blood selenium more than selenate did, while both forms raised glutathione peroxidase activity in the blood about equally. Translation: both forms feed the enzymes, and selenomethionine also builds the stockpile.

Immune support

Your immune system needs selenium to work normally.† The Lancet review notes that low selenium status has been linked with poorer immune function. In a 120-day study in 11 healthy men, participants ate diets naturally high (297 mcg a day) or low (13 mcg a day) in selenium. In lab tests, lymphocytes (immune white blood cells) from the high-selenium group multiplied more by day 45 and stayed that way, while the low-selenium group's didn't rise until day 100. Blood antibody and complement levels didn't change. It's a clue about how selenium works, not a promise.

Thyroid hormone metabolism

Your thyroid holds more selenium for its size than any other organ. It mostly makes T4, the less active form of thyroid hormone, and selenium-containing enzymes convert it into T3, the active form your cells respond to. Selenium enzymes also help shield the thyroid from the hydrogen peroxide it produces while making hormone.†

Candidly, more selenium doesn't mean more thyroid hormone. In a 48-week trial in 42 healthy men who already got enough selenium, 300 mcg a day as selenium yeast left thyroid hormone levels unchanged compared with placebo. Selenium supports normal thyroid hormone metabolism.† It isn't a thyroid stimulant.

What the research does and doesn't show

More isn't automatically better. In a 12-week trial in 119 healthy UK adults aged 50 to 64, whose usual diet supplied about 55 mcg a day, selenium yeast at 50, 100 or 200 mcg raised blood selenium in step with the dose (from about 96 to 177 ng/mL at 200 mcg). Selenoprotein P, a marker of whether the body's needs are covered, topped out with about 50 mcg extra a day.

The 2012 Lancet review calls the link between selenium status and health U-shaped: extra selenium may help people whose status is low, while people whose status is already adequate to high could be affected adversely and shouldn't add more. This tablet is for filling a gap, not for stacking on a selenium-rich diet. If you eat Brazil nuts most days, you probably don't need it.

How to take Selenium 200 mcg

The label's directions: "One tablet daily, as a dietary supplement."

• One tablet is the whole serving; don't take more unless your practitioner says so.
• Add up your selenium. The U.S. upper limit for adults is 400 mcg a day from all sources, food included. A single Brazil nut can carry 68 to 91 mcg.
• Signs of too much selenium over time include a garlic odor on the breath, a metallic taste, and hair loss or brittle nails. If you notice them, stop and talk with your practitioner.
• This is an adult serving. Keep it out of reach of children: 200 mcg is more than the upper limit for kids 8 and under (150 mcg at ages 4 to 8, lower for younger children).
• Ask your healthcare practitioner before use if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.

Don't take our word for it

• Verified by independent labs. ISO 17025-accredited labs check our test results.
• Every ingredient lot tested before use. Federal rules only require an identity test. We test every incoming lot, including the L-selenomethionine in this tablet, for identity, potency, heavy metals and microbes.
• If it misses spec, it doesn't go in a bottle. More than 99% of our tests pass, and the lots that don't are turned away.
• A certificate of analysis for every lot. Each production lot of this selenium gets its own.

Made in the USA with globally sourced ingredients, in Mt. Angel, Oregon. It's a farm town of about 3,500 people in the Willamette Valley, and our UL-certified cGMP facility sits right in it. The people who formulate, make and test this selenium work under one roof, and the owners, who have run the company since 2017, work in the same building. We've been making supplements in Oregon since 1974. That's 52 years, and we're not getting old either.

Frequently asked questions

How much selenium is in each tablet?

Each tablet has 200 mcg of selenium as L-selenomethionine, which is 363% of the Daily Value. The Daily Value for selenium is 55 mcg, the same as the adult RDA. The label's serving is one tablet a day, so a 60-tablet bottle lasts 60 days.

Is 200 mcg of selenium too much?

It's half the U.S. upper limit for adults of 400 mcg a day, but that limit counts every source. The average U.S. man gets about 132 mcg a day from food and the average woman about 94 mcg, so one tablet plus a typical diet lands at roughly 295 to 330 mcg. In 2023, the European Food Safety Authority set a more cautious adult upper limit of 255 mcg a day, one more reason to add things up.

Should I take selenium with food?

The label doesn't say either way. Its direction is simply one tablet daily, so take it at the time you're least likely to forget.

How long does it take to notice selenium?

You probably won't feel it, since selenium works quietly inside enzymes. What changes is your selenium status: in the 12-week UK trial, blood selenium climbed for weeks and leveled off by about week 10. It's a daily habit, not a quick fix.

Can I take it with one of your multivitamins?

Yes, but count the selenium. Our Men's Multi has 70 mcg per 2-capsule serving and our Women's Multi has 50 mcg, both as L-selenomethionine. Add this tablet and you're at 250 to 270 mcg from supplements before any food, so ask your practitioner whether you need both.

Why L-selenomethionine instead of sodium selenite or selenate?

Because it's the main form of selenium in food and your body can hold it in reserve in its proteins. Your body absorbs all of these forms well, but in the 32-week trial above, selenomethionine raised blood selenium more than selenate at the same 200 mcg dose.

Is selenium safe with medication or during pregnancy?

Ask your healthcare practitioner first. Some medications can affect selenium levels, and pregnancy and nursing change how much you need (the RDA is 60 mcg during pregnancy and 70 mcg while nursing). Our supplement interaction checker can help you prepare.

References

1. Rayman MP. Selenium and human health. Lancet. 2012. PubMed
2. Schrauzer GN. Selenomethionine: a review of its nutritional significance, metabolism and toxicity. J Nutr. 2000. PubMed
3. Thomson CD et al. Long-term supplementation with selenate and selenomethionine: selenium and glutathione peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.9) in blood components of New Zealand women. Br J Nutr. 1993. PubMed
4. Hawkes WC et al. The effects of dietary selenium on the immune system in healthy men. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2001. PubMed
5. Hawkes WC et al. High-selenium yeast supplementation in free-living North American men: no effect on thyroid hormone metabolism or body composition. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2008. PubMed
6. Hurst R et al. Establishing optimal selenium status: results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010. PubMed

†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.