A. N. Belozersky Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology MSU
Mean hair selenium of Managua citizens--743 mg/kg--was higher than of Moscow citizens. Significant differences were detected between groups of citizens with different social sighs: those with low income and perhaps irrational nutrition possess hair selenium value smaller (598 +/- 46 mg/kg) than those with relatively high income (713 +/- 40 mg/kg). Among recent country emigrants hair selenium was round to be the highest--898 +/- 60 mg/kg. This group of people possesses extremely low social status and consumes exclusively corn and beans. Wide interval of selenium concentrations for cereals of Nicaragua: 92 divided by 2580 mg/kg for corn and 18 divided by 814 mg/kg for beans--suggests mosaic selenium distribution in the soils of Nicaragua and consequently high possibility of different human selenium status levels.