What are symptoms of selenium toxicity?

What are symptoms of selenium toxicity?

Symptoms of selenium toxicity include nausea; vomiting; nail discoloration, brittleness, and loss; hair loss; fatigue; irritability; and foul breath odor (often described as “garlic breath”). Selenium is found in the environment in soil.

Can horses get too much selenium?

Too Much Selenium Horses may become poisoned from eating forage growing in high selenium soil or by drinking water with high levels of selenium. Most poisoning occurs in the spring and summer months when horses may be tempted to eat lush growths of weeds. Toxicity can be sudden and ‘acute’, or it can be chronic.

How is selenium poisoning treated?

Treatment involves discontinuation of the source of excessive intake and supportive care. There is no known antidote or suitable chelator. In a published11 case of selenium poisoning, the patient took 10 tablets a day for 2 weeks following a loading dose of a supplement containing an unknown amount of selenium.

How much selenium should a horse get daily?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set a daily recommended intake of selenium for an average horse (weighing 1,100 pounds) per day as 3 mg or 0.3 ppm in the diet (ppm stands for parts per million and is equivalent to milligrams per kilogram).

Is selenium toxicity common?

Selenium is an essential trace element in human metabolism, and like other trace elements, it is toxic at high concentrations [1]. Although selenium poisoning is not reported frequently in humans, incidents include industrial accidents [2], accidental ingestions, suicides, and attempted murder [3].

What is vitamin E and selenium good for in horses?

Another selenoprotein is a muscle protein in which deficiency is known to begin muscular degeneration. This is a link between selenium and muscle integrity separate from selenium’s antioxidant properties. Selenium and vitamin E supplementation has been used to prevent muscle disorders (tying-up) in some horses.

What is a good source of selenium for horses?

Grains can be important sources of selenium because many are grown in selenium adequate zones of the country. Garlic can also be high in selenium. Brans in general, whether wheat or rice, are good sources of selenium. The most common source of selenium in horse feeds, sodium selenite, is absorbed efficiently.