Low Blood Selenium Concentration in Crohn Disease

Excerpt

To the editor: Selenium deficiency has been reported in areas where soils and plants are poor in this trace element, and in patients on long-term parenteral nutrition (1, 2). Because selenium is absorbed preferentially in the ileum (3), we wondered whether patients with Crohn disease might be prone to low blood selenium concentrations.

Venous blood was drawn from subjects into heparinized syringes. Selenium was determined blindly using neutron activation analysis. In one control subject, the variation coefficient of selenium concentrations of six samples taken over several weeks was 3%.

Eleven controls aged 20 to 60 years had whole blood selenium