Herbakraft Develops Odorless Selenium

By Robby Gardner, Associate Editor

Sure, selenium has benefits for human health. It even has qualified FDA health claims. But formulating dietary supplements with the ingredient is no easy feat, because selenium’s garlic-like odor is reportedly “repulsive.” HerbaKraft (Piscataway, NJ) now has an odorless selenium ingredient, called Mi-Selein, and it should boost consumer compliance with selenium dietary supplements while creating new opportunities for selenium food and beverage products.

HerbaKraft says that traditional selenium is processed in such a way that it creates methyl selenol and dimethyl diselenide. These byproducts are very unstable, and HerbaKraft says they will oxidize at low room temperature. That oxidation process is what creates the strange odor-an odor that HerbaKraft vice president Vinod Khanijow says is noticeable even when only small amounts of selenium are used in a formulation.

Mi-Selein is made odorless through a unique processing technology that effectively prevents the development of stinky byproducts through what the company characterizes as “green” solvents. And Mi-Selein isn’t just distinguished through its lack of odor. Much commercial selenium is sourced from mined mineral, but Khanijow says Mi-Selein is the only selenium manufactured from U.S. mined selenium.