Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. In a study conducted, 13% of anemia patients have been found to have low selenium blood levels and selenium is “strongly and independently associated with anemia”.
Anemia is a condition characterized by low levels of a protein in your red blood cells called hemoglobin that delivers oxygen to your tissues and organs. While government statistics indicate that 3.4 million Americans are anemic, the National Anemia Action Council (NAAC) believes the number is far greater (1). Anemia is estimated to cost our healthcare system $38 billion each year (2). Anemia is found in all sorts of different populations, including 10% of people over the age of 65, 80% of chemotherapy patients, 50% of patients in intensive care units, 28% of patients with chronic kidney disease, 20% of pregnant women and 12% of women aged 12-49 (1). Now a new study (3) has found that a deficiency in selenium may be a cause of anemia.
The World Health Organization’s definition of anemia is having iron blood levels less than 12 grams per deciliter in women and less than 13 grams per deciliter in men (4). Using this definition, researchers analyzed data on over 2,000 men and women from the NHANES III (5). Of the 13% of patients in that sample found to have anemia, selenium blood levels were “strongly and independently associated with anemia”. When looking at how selenium could possibly play a role in anemia, the researchers point to selenium’s role in maintaining healthy levels of glutathione peroxidase, a key antioxidant in red blood cells that protects hemoglobin against oxidation (6).
For the researchers, “Low [blood levels] selenium is independently associated with anemia among older men and women in the United States” and that “This study raises a potentially important public health question: has selenium deficiency been overlooked as a cause of anemia among older adults?”
Source: Semba, R. D., et al. “Low serum selenium is associated with anemia among older adults in the United States.” European journal of clinical nutrition 63.1 (2009): 93-99.
© 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved
Posted January 27, 2009.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA.
References:
- “Anemia Statistics for the patient population” posted on the Anemia website.
- Robinson B. Cost of Anemia in the Elderly. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2003; 51(3): 14-17.
- Semba RD. Low serum selenium is associated with anemia among older adults in the United States. Eur J Clin Nutr 63: 93-99; advance online publication, September 5, 2007; doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602889.
- World Health Organization (1968). Nutritional Anemia: Report of a WHO Scientific Group. World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland.
- National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey – see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
- Nagababu E, Chrest FJ, Rifkind JM (2003). Hydrogen-peroxide-induced heme degradation in red blood cells: the protective roles of catalase and glutathione peroxidase. Biochim Biophys Acta 1620, 211–217.
