Brazil Nuts from Brazil or Bolivia – Which to Choose?

Brazil nuts , despite their name, do not necessarily have to come from Brazil. The nuts currently on the Polish market come from Brazil, Bolivia or Peru, for example. One of the reasons why we reach for them is selenium - how much of this mineral is in Brazil nuts and does its content really depend on the country of origin of the product?

Brazil Nuts Selenium Content Test - Watch the Video

Is there selenium in Brazil nuts?

Of course, yes! Selenium is one of the most important reasons why it is recommended to eat Brazil nuts. The standard daily requirement for this element for women is 55 mcg, and for men 70 mcg. In 100 g of Brazil nuts, there is about 1900 mcg of selenium, which is several dozen times more than the requirement! But there is no reason to fear an excess of selenium from Brazil nuts. In order to be poisoned by this ingredient, you would have to eat at least 100 g of these nuts every day, and they would have to have a really high selenium content (the amount of selenium in Brazil nuts varies depending on the type of soil in which the plant grows).

Brazil nuts from Brazil and Bolivia – we compared them!

Popular opinion has it that nuts harvested in Brazil have significantly more selenium than those from other countries, because the amount of selenium in a nut depends on the concentration of the element in the soil and the ability of the tree to absorb it. However, the research we conducted in a friendly laboratory shows that this theory is true only to a certain extent. It proved that yes, the concentration of selenium in nuts of Brazilian origin is higher than in those from Bolivia, but this is a difference of only about 10%, and not several or even 20 times higher in favor of the former.

How much selenium does 1 Brazil nut from Brazil have, and how much from Bolivia?

Our research shows that in the case of the former it is 11.5 mcg per nut (231 mg of selenium per kg), and nuts from Bolivia contain 213 mg of selenium per kg, i.e. one nut contains about 10.5 mcg.

Bibliography:
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Ou Y, Jiang B, Wang X, Ma W, Guo J. Selenium and colorectal adenoma risk: a meta-analysis. Nutr Cancer. 2012;64(8):1153-9.
Sayehmiri K, Azami M, Mohammadi Y, Soleymani A, Tardeh Z. The association between Selenium and Prostate Cancer: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2018 Jun 25;19(6):1431-1437.