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The object of this study was to investigate blood selenium values as influenced by smoking habits. The population under investigation (n = 298) were recruited from work places in the southern part of the country. The included attendants were apparently healthy individuals. Roughly half of the participants (47 %) turned out to be smokers. The smoking group could be classified as heavy, medium or light smokers. Blood selenium was determined by electrothermal atomic absorption, that gave results in agreement with the certified values of reference materials. The blood selenium values in nonsmokers and smokers were 1.52 and 1.38 umol/l, respectively, in the eastern part of the region, and 1.33 and 1.23 umol/l, respectively, in the western part of the southern region of Norway. Thus, it is clear that habitual smoking depressed the blood selenium values statistically significantly, by 10 % or more. The activity of the selenoenzyme glutathione peroxidase was depressed as well. The effect of smoking turned out to be dose-dependant, as heavy smoking exerted a more pronounced effect than light smoking. Furthermore, it appeared that the average blood selenium levels in the southern areas of Norway had decreased from values around 1.6 umol/L in 1980 to an average below 1.4 umol/l at our examination twenty years later. Whereas about 60 % of the grains consumed in Norway in 1980 were imported from high selenium areas in America, the consumption of domestic grain has increased considerably during the last 20 years. The low selenium content of Scandinavian grain may explain the decreasing selenium levels observed in the population.
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