Brazil nuts are a rich source of selenium, so much so that a couple of Brazil nuts can provide close to the recommended intake for selenium for a typical person. This is nutritionally interesting because selenium is one mineral that perhaps is lacking from many people’s diets and so supplementing a diet with a few Brazil nuts per day can make a significant nutritional difference to the quality of the diet. The reason that Brazil nuts are rich in selenium is based on two basic principles. Firstly, the location that Brazil nut trees are found, namely South America, tend to be soils that are rich in selenium. Secondly, the Brazil nut tree is able to efficiently uptake selenium from the soil, and then subsequently sequester the mineral in the nuts it produces. The trees where Brazil nuts are harvested are very old and have matured over decades in order to supply their nuts, and the ability of the tree to provide selenium rich nuts is one reason the trees are revered locally for their health giving properties.
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RdB
