Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Lactating women require an increased Adequate Intake (AI) of 85 µg/day of selenium to account for selenium secreted in breast milk.
If you are breastfeeding, increase your daily selenium intake to 85 µg. This higher amount compensates for the selenium lost through breast milk, ensuring you maintain adequate levels for your own health while supporting your baby's needs.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Based on an average amount of selenium secreted in breast milk of 12 μg/day and an absorption efficiency of 70 % from usual diets, an additional selenium intake of 15 µg/day was considered to replace these losses. Thus, an AI of 85 μg/day is proposed for lactating women.
Why this rating
Based on extrapolation from breast milk selenium content and absorption efficiency.
Source
Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for selenium
EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products et al. · EFSA Journal · 2014
DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3846
clinical_guidelineCited 340×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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