Estimation of daily selenium intake by 3- to 5-year-old Japanese children based on selenium excretion in 24-h urine samples

Abstract

To evaluate the daily Se intake of 3- to 5-year-old Japanese children, we used seventy-two urine samples collected from fifty-three children (twenty-seven male and twenty-six female) from two cities in Miyagi prefecture, Japan. For measuring low Se concentrations with high precision, accuracy and rapidity in the 24-h urine samples, we developed an instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) method, that is without any chemical separation, using the short-lived 77mSe (t1/2 = 17·4 s) nuclide. The estimated Se intake of the fifty-three children was 51·5 (sd 30·2) µg/d (geometric mean: 42·7 µg/d). Ten subjects (three male and seven female), successfully provided 24-h urine samples over two or three consecutive days; their Se intake was 37·4 (sd 5·9) µg/d. Based on the logarithmically transformed data of these ten subjects, the ratio of intra-/inter-individual variances of usual Se intake was 16·7 (28·0/1·7) and geometric mean was 27·7 µg/d. The 5th to 95th percentile of usual Se intake of these ten subjects was 17·5 to 40·4 µg/d, which ranged between the recommended dietary allowance and tolerable upper intake level of Se by the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese (2015).

Environmental and human iodine and selenium status: lessons from Gilgit-Baltistan, North-East Pakistan

“…Urinary Se excretion is one of the most effective indicators of Se intake (Rodríguez et al, 1995 ; Hawkes et al, 2003 ; Yoneyama et al, 2008 ) which suggest that USeC can be used to predict the Se intake of different populations (Longnecker et al, 1996 ; Nakamura et al, 2019 ). The median USeC for school-age children and women of reproductive age were comparable to or less than USeC values reported by Phiri et al ( 2020 ) for a Malawian population, who were reported to be Se deficient based on their plasma Se status.…”

“…The USeC reflects Se intake and approximately 40–60% of Se intake is excreted in urine (EFSA NDA Panel, 2014 ), which, for the current study, means that approximately 32–54% participants of the surveyed population is living at risk of Se deficiency (USeC uncor , USeC sg ) but 7–30% when USeC cre is used. A study investigating daily Se intake in a Japanese population from 24-h urinary Se reported 73 and 77% of ingested Se excreted via urine in men and women, respectively (Nakamura et al, 2019 ; Yoneyama et al, 2008 ). If urine samples collected in our study are assumed equivalent to 24-h urine sampling, then the mean Se intake based on USeC uncor and USeC sg in males and females of all age groups ≥ 14 years would be less than the EAR (45 µg/day).…”

“…There are no approved guidelines for estimating Se nutrition status from USeC, and different approaches are reported. We used three different reported approaches to estimate population Se nutrition status from USeC: (1) 50–70% of dietary Se is excreted in urine (Alaejos & Romero, 1993 ), (2) 40–60% of Se intake is excreted in urine (EFSA NDA, 2014 ), (3) 73 and 77% of ingested Se is excreted via urine in men and women, respectively (Nakamura et al, 2019 ; Yoneyama et al, 2008 ). We used a published age group classification (IOM, 2000 ) to describe Se nutrition.…”