Significant Beneficial Association of High Dietary Selenium Intake with Reduced Body Fat in the CODING Study

Abstract

Selenium (Se) is a trace element which plays an important role in adipocyte hypertrophy and adipogenesis. Some studies suggest that variations in serum Se may be associated with obesity. However, there are few studies examining the relationship between dietary Se and obesity, and findings are inconsistent. We aimed to investigate the association between dietary Se intake and a panel of obesity measurements with systematic control of major confounding factors. A total of 3214 subjects participated in the study. Dietary Se intake was determined from the Willett food frequency questionnaire. Body composition was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Obese men and women had the lowest dietary Se intake, being 24% to 31% lower than corresponding normal weight men and women, classified by both BMI and body fat percentage. Moreover, subjects with the highest dietary Se intake had the lowest BMI, waist circumference, and trunk, android, gynoid and total body fat percentages, with a clear dose-dependent inverse relationship observed in both gender groups. Furthermore, significant negative associations discovered between dietary Se intake and obesity measurements were independent of age, total dietary calorie intake, physical activity, smoking, alcohol, medication, and menopausal status. Dietary Se intake alone may account for 9%–27% of the observed variations in body fat percentage. The findings from this study strongly suggest that high dietary Se intake is associated with a beneficial body composition profile.

High dietary selenium intake is associated with less insulin resistance in the Newfoundland population

“…Eligibility of participants for the CODING study was based upon the following inclusion criteria: 1) ≥19 years of age; 2) at least a third generation Newfoundlander; 3) without serious metabolic, cardiovascular or endocrine diseases; 4) women were not pregnant at the time of the study [34–38]. Ethics approval was obtained from the Health Research Ethics Authority (HREA), Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, with Project Identification Code #10.33 (latest date of approval: February 14, 2016).…”

“…All subjects provided written and informed consent before participation in this study. Detailed information regarding the CODING Study was reported in our previously published papers [34–38]. Subjects with diabetes were excluded to focus on the non-diabetic general population and to avoid the effect of diabetic state on the results.…”

“…The enCORE (Ver 12.2, 2008, GE Medical Systems, Madison, WI) software package was used for DXA data acquisition. Daily quality assurance was performed on the DXA scanner and the typical coefficient of variation was 1.3% during the study period [34–38]. …”

“…The NutriBase Clinical Nutrition Manager (version 8.2.0; Cybersoft Inc, Phoenix, AZ) software package was used to convert weekly serving values into mean daily serving values. This information was then used to calculate the total daily calorie, macro- and micro-nutrients intakes including Se for each individual [34]. Then dietary Se intake (μg/kg/day) was calculated by dividing body weight [34].…”

“…This information was then used to calculate the total daily calorie, macro- and micro-nutrients intakes including Se for each individual [34]. Then dietary Se intake (μg/kg/day) was calculated by dividing body weight [34]. …”