RE: [RC] question on selenium levels.... - Jim Holland
Selenium testing is, IMHO, kinda
hokey. The “numbers” used by different labs also vary.
I went through all this with Magic when he stiffened up in the hind quarters on
two 100 attempts.
His first sample was tested by Oklahoma
State Diagnostic Lab. It came back .09ppm with “normal” being
listed as .14-.25ppm. Supplemented 1mg per day for 60 days and
retested. Came back as .07ppm. I also had Sunny tested at the same
time. He was at .02. Huh?
Hmmm….OK…regroup.
Started giving him a little over 5mg per
day for 60 days and retested, but this time asked the vet to use a different
lab. The sample was sent to M&M Laboratories in Milan, MI.
The result was 277mg/ml, with normal being listed as 160-275mg/ml. This
is on the high end of normal, just where I wanted him to be. He (and
Sunny) has been on this supplement since last fall:
It’s reasonably priced and shipping is
free if you buy $100 of it.
I consulted with Dr. Ken Marcella regarding the SE shots. There is
SOME toxicity danger here and he recommended that unless Magic was stumbling
around the pasture, I take the time to go with supplements, adjusting the dosage
until the levels were high normal.
I will test both Sunny and Magic again
this spring before I start competing seriously again. I don’t know what
all this means, but I don’t think Selenium testing is too exact a science
and you may get differing results from different labs, using different
measurements. Obviously Parts Per Million (PPM) and Milligrams per Millileter
(mg/ml) are two very different measurements and I haven’t really found
anyone who can clarify the testing procedures used and exactly what reference
they are using. There seems to be no real standard measurement for
Selenium.
From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kathy Kelly Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006
12:36 PM To: ridecamp Subject: RE: [RC] question on
selenium levels....
That seems like a pretty big range, I
question the .5.
Gabriel has had Se deficieny issues this
past year. Susan G said his serum levels should be between .2 and .3
since he's an endurance horse.
He's tested at .15 and after 3 mos of Se
supplementation and rest at an even lower.1 (drat)! So now he's on
the liquid Se-E supplement MegaSel that is supposed to work well.
In addition, he still get some selenium yeast (organic form that is also
supposed to be easily utilized, and after our yeast discussion I am glad to
have some yeast in his diet).
He has been doing well with moderate 50s,
even 2 days at 2 multiday rides even tho he's still testing low. I will
have him retested again in the next few months and if he's still low we'll try
an Se injection, as I want his levels up before we attempt our 1st 100 this
year (hopefully!).
