SELENIUM CONTENTS OF TEA FROM DIFFERENT P ROVINCES OF THE PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA

In the People's Republic of China there are wide regions where many pe ople suffer from strong selenium deficiency. In order to elucidate the possibilities to compensate this state of need by the national drink, the selenium contents of 31 tea samples from nine provinces of the PR China were determined by hydride generation atomic absorption spectro metry (HG-AAS). The Se contents of the ten analyzed tea samples from o ne region with soils containing high selenium amounts range from 83 ng /g to 7530 ng/g, These results are in contrast to the Se contents of t he remaining tea samples from other regions, which range from 28 to 57 3 ng/g. The extractible part of selenium in the tea drink ranges betwe en 7% and 27% without significant difference among different tea sampl es. The accuracy of Se determination was tested by using one tea stand ard reference material. The daily consumption of one ''Se tea'' examin ed in this study assures that people who suffer from a Se deficiency r esume enough of it. Drinking normal quantities of this tea an intoxica tion by Se is not to be expected.