although the exact amount can vary considerably depending on where the nuts were grown.
For perspective, the recommended dietary allowance for selenium for most adults is 55 micrograms per day.
That means just one or two nuts can often provide more than an entire day’s requirement.
And selenium isn’t just another mineral—it plays an especially important role in the thyroid.
- Brazil Nuts May Support Healthy Thyroid Function
The thyroid gland contains a particularly high concentration of selenium.
Your body uses selenium to produce proteins called selenoproteins, some of which help regulate thyroid hormone metabolism and protect thyroid tissue against oxidative stress.
Selenium-dependent enzymes are also involved in converting thyroxine, or T4, into the more biologically active thyroid hormone T3.
This is one reason inadequate selenium intake can interfere with optimal thyroid physiology.
The NIH confirms that selenium is necessary for normal thyroid hormone production and thyroid gland function.
What happens
