Brazil Nuts – A Fascinating Food With Extreme Selenium Content

You may have noticed them in your trail mix, trying to be inconspicuous among smaller, more familiar nuts. Brazil nuts are so large, they can’t help being noticed, but there is something else that makes them stand out, their extraordinarily high selenium content! One nut alone can give us 174% of our Daily Value. 

Being that selenium deficiency is linked to common health issues like Hashimoto’s disease (an autoimmune disease that leads to hypothyroidism), poor sperm quality, and irregular ovulation, having such a rich natural source of selenium could be beneficial. However, too much selenium can also pose health problems, including heart, liver or kidney failure in extreme cases. One nut has 96 mcg of Selenium, in average, and our upper intake level is 400 mcg. Based on this, we should avoid eating more than 4 nuts in one day. 

Speaking of eating 4 nuts in one day, there is an interesting study that came out in 2013 that was featured in one of Dr. Greger’s videos. In short, the study found that eating just 4 Brazil nuts in one day could decrease LDL cholesterol levels (the bad cholesterol) and increase HDL cholesterol levels (the good cholesterol) for up to 30 days. Just 4 nuts total in one month! Could this be an alternative to statins? Maybe, but further studies are needed. Always talk to your doctor before changing your diet while on any medication, since your dosage may need to be adjusted.

There have been many other studies and study reviews on Brazil nuts, and other benefits have been identified, including an improvement in fat metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, thyroid function, and DNA damage. Aside from being a top source of selenium, Brazil nuts are also rich in omega-6 fatty acids, vitamin B1 or thiamin, vitamin E, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and zinc. Based on this nutritional profile, Brazil nuts are great for our brain, our immunity, our cells, our blood, and our heart.

Before adding them to our daily diet, though, there is a risk we need to keep in mind. Brazil nuts have a high radium content. As of now, the amount of radiation exposure through digestion of one or two nuts a day (an amount often recommended as a natural selenium supplement) has not been deemed “clearly harmful” or “clearly unharmful.” Since high radioactivity exposure can lead to cancer, we should eat these nuts in moderation until we learn more.

Brazil nuts can be enjoyed as a snack, a food topping, or as an ingredient in spreads, vinaigrettes, and baking goods. Try our personalized nutrition calculator below to see just how much nutrition you and your family can get from eating Brazil nuts.