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RE: [SPAM] [RC] Selenium - heidi

Thought I'd update you on Gabriel's Se results.  His blood serum level was 
.15, which my vet says is the low end of the normal range.  Susan G 
recommended if possible I get it up to .25 - .3 ppm.

Your vet is dealing with old figures.  For years, "normal" was assumed
to be about .16 to .20 ppm, largely because they were based on testing
deficient populations.  Schering did some research which was duplicated
by (if memory serves) Michigan State.  They were able to show diminished
activity of selenium-dependent enzymes at levels below .20 ppm, and have
established normals as being .20 to .25 ppm.  Wouldn't be a thing wrong
with being as high as Susan G states--still a very safe range.

I have been supplementing 4 mg daily for 3 weeks now (I did get the Se 
yeast).  Took Gabriel out for a 3 hr moderate training ride last week and he 
seemed like his old self.  But when I took him out again yesterday he mostly 
wanted to walk (I let him choose) and his hr was slightly elevated, so I'm 
guessing I just need to take it slower and give him more time to get the Se 
levels up.  I plan on having him restested in 4 weeks, and am hoping he'll 
be ready to take to a 50 then but we'll see.

Sounds good regarding the retesting, but I'd wait to see what the levels
are to see if your supplementation is adequate, and since he is showing
you some signs of not being ready, I'd proceed toward 50 with caution
until you've got both good levels and a horse that doesn't feel dumpy
on training rides.

I posted some info about testing hay and supplementing Se on the SWDRA list, 
and Barney Fleming DVM said that I should be testing muscle (biopsy) not 
blood level and that Se deficiency was extremely rare and that I should be 
concerned about over supplementing if giving any at all.  I'm comfortable 
that I'm doing that right thing, but I feel like Barney is giving bad 
information.

I'd be interested to know where Barney is getting that information.  Two
or more decades ago, the blood assays were not all that reliable, so it
would be good to know if Barney is working on old information or if he
has come up with something completely new.  As for deficiency being
rare--when I practiced in central Oregon, it was a rarity to test a
horse that WASN'T deficient--some of them alarmingly so.  It was not
unusual there to do an assay on a non-supplemented horse and get levels
in the .03-.05 ppm range.  And some that were that severely deficient
could NOT get their levels up with oral supplementation--I'd love to
see work on my hypothesis that at extreme depletion, the gut becomes
unable to transport the minerals to rectify the deficieny.  Other cell
membranes diminish in their function or sometimes cease function
altogether in the face of selenium deficiency--so why not the gut?  In
any event, we could get those horses turned around with injectable E-Se
to get the levels up in the first place, and then we could maintain them
on oral supplementation once the levels got near normal.  (I would
expect a horse such as yours to be able to assimilate the oral
selenium--he's deficient, but not clear down in the cellar.)

Heidi


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