The importance of selenium to human health

Rayman, Margaret P.

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(00)02490-9

Cited by 3,536 publications

(2,498 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…The low observed adverse effect level for Se is 1540 (SE 653) mg/d (40) . The health impacts of Se deficiency have been discussed in more detail elsewhere (9,15,41) and are summarised in Table 6 with conditions being considered under the following headings: mortality; immune function; antiviral effects and HIV; fertility and reproduction; cancer; thyroid effects; CHD. Environmental Se: impact on nutrition and health Keshan disease (KD) is an endemic cardiomyopathy (heart disease) characterised by chronic moderate to severe heart enlargement, which can result in death.…”

Section: Health Impacts Of Selenium Deficiency and Toxicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1) give an immediate impression of whether there is high or low Se in the environment, although it is only in recent years that such baseline maps have been produced. Statistical analysis of such large data sets when they become available will enable good comparisons between the environmental (41) . )…”

Section: Selenium Status In Human Subjects Is Linked To the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Symposium on ‘Geographical and geological influences on nutrition’ Factors controlling the distribution of selenium in the environment and their impact on health and nutrition

2009

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Se is essential to human and animal health but can be toxic in excess. An interest in its geochemistry has developed alongside a greater understanding of its function in a number of health conditions. Geology exerts a strong control on the Se status of the surface environment; low-Se rock-types (0·05–0·09 mg Se/kg) make up the majority of rocks occurring at the Earth's surface, which in turn account for the generally low levels of Se in most soils. However, there are exceptions such as associations with sulfide mineralisation and in some types of sedimentary rocks (e.g. black shales) in which contents of Se can be much higher. Baseline geochemical data now enable a comparison to be made between environmental and human Se status, although a direct link is only likely to be seen if the population is dependent on the local environment for sustenance. This situation is demonstrated with an example from the work of the British Geological Survey in the Se-deficiency belt of China. The recent fall in the daily dietary Se intake in the UK is discussed in the context of human Se status and declining use of North American wheat in bread making. Generally, US wheat has ten times more Se than UK wheat, attributed to the fact that soils from the wheat-growing belt of America are more enriched in Se to a similar order of magnitude. In agriculture effective biofortification of crops with Se-rich fertilisers must be demonstrably safe to the environment and monitored appropriately and baseline geochemical data will enable this process to be done with confidence.

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Section: Health Impacts Of Selenium Deficiency and Toxicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Selenium Status In Human Subjects Is Linked To the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symposium on ‘Geographical and geological influences on nutrition’ Factors controlling the distribution of selenium in the environment and their impact on health and nutrition

2009

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“…This study excited considerable public and scientific interest in the nutritional and clinical importance of selenium, notably in respect to potential cancer mitigation, and it has stimulated a number of further trials to better evaluate its efficacy. Principal amongst these has been the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) in the US, Puerto Rico and Canada [43][44][45][46], and the Prevention of Cancer by Intervention with Selenium (PRE-CISE) trial in the UK, Denmark and Sweden [47][48][49]. There is now considerable debate regarding both the planning and the results of these studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speciation of selenium dietary supplements; formation of S-(methylseleno)cysteine and other selenium compounds

Amoako

Uden

Tyson

2009

Analytica Chimica Acta

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a b s t r a c tSpeciation of selenium is of interest because it is both essential and toxic to humans, depending on the species and the amount ingested. Following indications that selenium supplementation could reduce the incidence of some cancers, selenium-enriched yeast and other materials have been commercialized as supplements. Most dramatically however, the SELECT trial that utilized l-selenomethionine as the active supplement was terminated in 2008 and there is much debate regarding both the planning and the results of efficacy studies. Further, since dietary supplements are not regulated as pharmaceuticals, there are concerns about the quality, storage conditions, stability and selenium content in selenium supplements. Enzymatic hydrolysis enabled selenium speciation profiles to be obtained by high performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) and following derivatization gas chromatography with atomic emission detection (GC-AED). Coated fiber solid phase microextraction (SPME) was used to extract volatile selenium species for determination by GC-AED and GC-MS. Similar speciation patterns were observed between yeast-based supplements subject to extended storage and those heated briefly at elevated temperatures. All the yeast-based supplements and one yeast-free supplement formed S-(methylseleno)cysteine on heating. Evidence was obtained in support of the hypotheses that S-(methylseleno)cysteine is formed from a reaction between dimethyldiselenide and cysteine or cystine.

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“…However, as noted by Daniels (2004), selenium 'depletion' as opposed to 'deficiency' is becoming associated with many diverse disease states including cardiovascular disease (Neve, 1996), cancer (Combs and Gray, 1998), thyroid dysfunction (Kohrle, 1999) and viral infections such as HIV (Beck et al, 1995;Kupka et al, 2004). The broad health implications of low selenium levels in humans have been covered in several recent reviews (Kohrl et al, 2000;Rayman, 2000;Brown and Arthur, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selenium status in Southern Tasmania

et al. 2007

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Objective: To assess the selenium status of Southern Tasmanians. Design: Cross-sectional. Settings: One thousand and five hundred adults randomly selected from the electoral roll living in the Greater Hobart region of Southern Tasmania, Australia, were invited to participate. Subjects: The overall response rate was 22% (335/1500). Interventions: A venous blood sample was collected and a questionnaire administered (consisting of brief demographic details and health questions) to subjects who granted informed consent. A previously validated assay using magnetic sector ICP-MS was employed for plasma analysis. Results: Total plasma selenium levels for this sample population were normally distributed with a mean level of 110 mg/l (range 67-268 mg/l) indicating that the majority of the subjects were not selenium-depleted (71% with levels greater than 100 mg/l). Adjustment for differential age/gender response rates produced similar values. More women under 50 (42%) and men over 50 (32%) had selenium levels o100 mg/l with the potential for sub-optimal selenoprotein activity. Low education attainment was associated with low total selenium level (Po0.02). Conclusions: The majority of participants were not deficient in selenium. Given the narrow therapeutic window of supplementation, dietary advice to increase foods rich in selenium, particularly to higher risk groups, may be an effective means of increasing plasma selenium toward target levels.

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The importance of selenium to human health

Cited by 3,536 publications

References 80 publications

Symposium on ‘Geographical and geological influences on nutrition’ Factors controlling the distribution of selenium in the environment and their impact on health and nutrition

Symposium on ‘Geographical and geological influences on nutrition’ Factors controlling the distribution of selenium in the environment and their impact on health and nutrition

Speciation of selenium dietary supplements; formation of S-(methylseleno)cysteine and other selenium compounds

Selenium status in Southern Tasmania

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