So Getting Enough Selenium Is One Of The More Effective Ways To Increase Testosterone Naturally?
It certainly is.
Just like many other vitamins and minerals we talk about here on this site, selenium and testosterone are a potent combination that you need to know more about.
Today you will learn more about what selenium is, how it is a natural testosterone booster, how much you need for increased T, other health benefits of Selenium and what the best sources of selenium are.
What Is Selenium & What Health Benefits Does It Deliver Other Than Being A Natural Testosterone Booster?
Selenium is an essential mineral, this means that it must be gained through your diet. While your body only needs small amounts, it plays a very large role in important processes in the body such as your metabolism and thyroid function. It also aids your body in the following ways:
- Improving blood pressure
- Improving the quality of sperm
- Helping the body to combat prostate cancer
Selenium and Testosterone Levels Are Linked
Ensuring you get adequate selenium is one of the most effective ways to increase testosterone naturally, this is for two key reasons.
Selenium Is A Powerful Antioxidant
As you will know if you’ve read other articles in my site, antioxidants greatly aid with testosterone production. Antioxidants will lower the amount of inflammation in the body. When your body is less inflamed, the better it can perform and this includes reduced inflammation in the testes leading to increased testosterone production.
Selenium Improves The Thyroid Function
You may not be aware; but for adults, the thyroid is the organ with the highest concentration of selenium. Selenium plays a major role in the thyroid gland’s ability to produce thyroid hormone. A healthy production of thyroid hormone means leas to the testes producing more leydig cells and the leydig cells are responsible for testosterone production.
What Studies Investigating Selenium and Testosterone Have Shown
There have been several studies carried out that have demonstrated selenium can be a natural testosterone booster for men over the age of 30 (usually when T levels start to naturally drop) and for men who have a diet low in selenium.
How Much Selenium Do You Need?
Most experts agree that you need between 75 mcg & 350 mcg per day (personally I aim for 250 – 300 mcg). It is possible to “overdose”, this happens when you start to exceed 400 mcg per day. At this stage you will start experience side effects like hair loss, irritability, fatigue, nausea, nail inflammation and vomiting.
Food Sources of Selenium
There are a number of food sources, you can check out the largest food sources of selenium and other food sources of selenium that contain other testosterone boosting nutrients below.
Brazil Nuts
Your average size nut provides between 68 & 91 mcg (micro grams)
Fish/ Seafood
Yellowfin tuna contains about 92 mcg of selenium per 3 ounces. While other fish and seafood like shrimp, oysters, sardines, salmon, clams, halibut and crab provide approximately between 40 and 65 mcg per 3 ounces.
Pork
Three ounces of lean pork provides approximately 33 mcg of selenium.
Eggs
Hard boiled brings the best source of selenium, with one hard-boiled egg providing approximately 20 mcg of selenium. Eggs regardless of how they are cooked, will still supply you with a decent dose of selenium.
Beef
The amount of selenium supplied, is dependent on the cut of beef you are consuming. To give you a rough idea though, steak supplies about 30 mcg, liver 28 mcg and ground beef 18 mcg.
Turkey
3 oz of boneless turkey meat provides approximately 30 mcg of Selenium.
Spinach
A cup of cooked from frozen Spinach will provide you with about 11 mcg of selenium.
Chicken
3 oz is good for about 22 – 25 mcg.
Mushrooms
A 100 gram serving will provide you with approximately 12 mcg.
Supplements
As always, I advise to aim to get enough selenium from food sources. I appreciate living in the real word, this may not be a possibility due to things like food allergies/ intolerance and diet preferences. If you can’t get sufficient selenium from your diet, I would advise to take supplements.
While not quite as good as getting selenium from food sources, supplementing with selenium can still be one of the best ways to increase testosterone naturally.
What I do recommend is that you opt for purely selenium supplements as supposed to a blended/ multi vitamins and minerals supplement.
To Discover More About Selenium Supplements, Some Of My Other Recommended Testosterone Boosting Supplements & See The Selenium Supplements I Use, Check Out This Article!
Final Thoughts & Other Articles To Look At
Hopefully you’ve found this article on how selenium and testosterone can be the useful combination you’ve been missing. You can check out the other nutrients I recommend including in your diet as ways to increase testosterone naturally here.
If you feel that supplements may be the best way for you to get your selenium RDA, once again you can check out the article I recommended above.
I will also be publishing an article shortly, which is reviewing what I believe to be the best selenium supplements on the market. As always if you have any queries in regard to why you need selenium for testosterone production, have experience/ questions around selenium or even other ways to increase testosterone naturally, drop me a comment below and I’ll get back to you.
If you can share this article with friends, family or anyone you know who will be interested, it will be appreciated. You can also check me out on my social media apps. Plenty more tips on ways to increase testosterone naturally.