The Mediterranean diet features a number of healthy foods, including lean sources of protein, fruits, vegetables, red wine and healthy monounsaturated fats. Following this diet can benefit your health, as it limits your consumption of unhealthy saturated fats and processed foods. One nutrient supplied by the Mediterranean diet is selenium.
Recommended Selenium Intake
Consuming enough selenium is important, since a deficiency of the mineral can make your body less able to cope with stress. MedlinePlus, a website run by the National Institutes of Health, recommends that both men and women above the ages of 14 consume 55 mcg of selenium each day to avoid this deficiency. Ideally, you should consume selenium from dietary sources instead of relying on supplements.
Plant Sources of Selenium
Consuming a range of plant foods in the Mediterranean diet can contribute to your selenium intake. Some tree nuts are a source of this mineral as well as many other essential nutrients. Walnuts provide a modest amount of selenium: 5 mcg per ounce, or 9 percent of your recommended intake. Brazil nuts grown in selenium-rich soil provide large amounts of the mineral: each ounce contains up to 544 mcg of selenium, more than you should safely consume in a day, according to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Add these nuts to your diet to increase your selenium intake, but exercise moderation in Brazil nuts, limiting your intake to less than an ounce each day.
Animal Sources of Selenium
Several animal foods also provide selenium in the Mediterranean diet. A 3 oz. serving of salmon or halibut provides 73 percent of your recommended selenium intake, while shrimp and crab meat provide 63 and 75 percent of your recommended intake, respectively. In addition, a 3-oz. serving of chicken breast contains 13 mcg of selenium, or 27 percent of your daily selenium requirement.
Considerations
Although not all the foods in the Mediterranean diet contain selenium, each provides other nutrients essential to a healthy diet. For example, although vegetables and fruits do not contain significant amounts of selenium, they instead contain a number of other essential vitamins and minerals. When following a Mediterranean diet, plan your meals to include a range of nutrients, instead of planning your diet around selenium. If you currently suffer from a selenium deficiency and require an above-average intake of selenium to correct the deficiency, talk to your doctor about the benefits of mineral supplements.
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