Fingernail selenium levels in relation to the risk of obesity in Chinese children

Abstract

Selenium (Se) has been suggested to be beneficial to obesity development. However, limited studies have evaluated the association between Se and childhood obesity and the findings are inconsistent.The aim of this study was to examine the association of Se levels with obesity in children in a cross-sectional study.A total of 62 obese (21 girls) and 65 normal-weight children (27 girls) aged 7 to 13 years were recruited in Shanghai, China. Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ its 95th age- and sex-specific percentile for children. Participant demographic data and parental information were obtained through a self-administered questionnaire. Se concentration in fingernail clippings was quantified using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry.The average age was 10.9 years (standard deviation = 1.0) and the mean BMI was 21.2 kg/m2 (standard deviation = 5.0). Fingernail Se levels were relatively higher among normal-weight children as compared with obese participants, though the difference was not statistically significant (P = .79). Se levels were inversely associated with the risk of childhood obesity after adjustment for potential confounders. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) was 0.24 (0.07–0.84) comparing participants in the highest with those who in the lowest tertile of Se levels (Plinear-trend = .03).Our study supported an inverse association between fingernail Se levels and the risk of obesity in Chinese children. Data generated from the present study are useful for designing future prospective cohort studies and/or randomized clinical trials.

Non-Essential Trace Elements Dietary Exposure in French Polynesia: Intake Assessment, Nail Bio Monitoring and Thyroid Cancer Risk

“…Even if several recent studies analysed the use of nails as biomarkers of different minerals and nETE and to relate their concentration to some diseases risk such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, children obesity, hearing loss and acute promyelocytic leukaemia (Karatela et al, 2018;Chen et al, 2018;Li et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2018;Andrew et al, 2018;White et al, 2018). In the present study, no relation was found by between nETE fingernail, dietary exposure and thyroid cancer risk.…”

Low selenium intake is associated with postpartum weight retention in Chinese women and impaired physical development of their offspring

“…Among them, an intervention study showed that Se supplementation can significantly reduce the body fat mass. A cross-sectional study supported an inverse association between fingernail Se levels and the risk of obesity in Chinese children (31) . Another cross-sectional study also indicated a trend of low Se biomarkers in the overweight/obese group, although the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0•05) (32) .…”

Recent advances in the application of ionomics in metabolic diseases

“…A significant number of studies with larger cohorts have been performed recently to improve our understanding of the relationship between obesity and single or few essential/non-essential elements in various biofluids and tissues, which showed generally similar changes in the concentrations of some of them in different populations, such as increased serum and hepatic tissue Cu levels ( 119 , 120 ), decreased serum, hair, and salivary Zn levels ( 121 – 123 ), decreased fingernail Se levels ( 124 ), and increased toxic heavy metal (such as Al, Hg, Pb, and As) contents ( 125 – 128 ). Many of these significantly changed elements are positively or negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, which are commonly used to estimate the risk of overweight, obesity, and some other metabolic diseases such as MetS ( 128 , 129 ).…”