Plasma selenium levels in healthy blood bank donors in the central-eastern part of Belgium

Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, with Zeeman background correction and after improved matrix modification, was used to measure the plasma selenium content of healthy blood bank donors in the central part of Belgium.The mean plasma selenium concentration of 80 men and 80 women was 79.7±4.4 ng/mL with a range of 55.0–117.4 ng/mL.There was no gender difference observed. Plasma selenium level was significantly highest for the adult group, aged 45–64 years, compared to the others, except the young adults (18–24 years).The mean plasma selenium concentration measured corresponded well with literature data for Belgium. The obtained values were found to be in the medium range, compared with recent literature values for the European countries.