Se Status Prediction by Food Intake as Compared to Circulating Biomarkers in a West Algerian Population

Abstract

Algeria is the largest country in Africa, located close to the Mediterranean coastal area, where nutrients consumption varies widely. Local data on selenium composition of foods are not available. We postulated a close correlation between selenium status predictions from food consumption analysis with a quantitative analysis of circulating biomarkers of selenium status. Population characteristics were recorded from 158 participants and dietary selenium intake was calculated by 24-h recall. The average total plasma selenium was 92.4 ± 18.5 µg/L and the mean of selenium intake was 62.7 µg/day. The selenoprotein P concentration was 5.5 ± 2.0 mg/L and glutathione peroxidase 3 activity was 247.3 ± 41.5 U/L. A direct comparison of the dietary-derived selenium status to the circulating selenium biomarkers showed no significant interrelation. Based on absolute intakes of meat, potato and eggs, a model was deduced that outperforms the intake composition-based prediction from all food components significantly (DeLong’s test, p = 0.029), yielding an area under the curve of 82%. Selenium status prediction from food intake remains a challenge. Imprecision of survey method or information on nutrient composition makes extrapolating selenium intake from food data providing incorrect insights into the nutritional status of a given population, and laboratory analyses are needed for reliable information.

Selenium in Human Health and Gut Microflora: Bioavailability of Selenocompounds and Relationship With Diseases

“…Se, selenium; SELENOP, selenoprotein P; GPX1, glutationa peroxidase; GPX3, glutationa peroxidase 3 (Figure illustration by Francisco Irochima Pinheiro). content in the soil (22,24). In addition, Se from the diet affects colonization of the microbial intestine, which in turn influences the host's Se status and selenoproteoma expression (25).…”

Selenium Deficiency Due to Diet, Pregnancy, Severe Illness, or COVID-19—A Preventable Trigger for Autoimmune Disease

“…The health risks of a relatively low Se intake become apparent in observational or intervention studies when biomarkers of Se status are analyzed in relation to disease prevalence and incidence. Using dietary Se intake data for deducing Se status has proven most difficult, as the same food items vary strongly in Se content in relation to the origin of production [40,[47][48][49][50][51]. Among the most suitable biomarkers of Se status are total Se concentrations in serum or plasma and circulating selenoproteins [52][53][54][55][56].…”

“…Clinical studies on Se are either observational and compare Se status between diseased and healthy subjects or in relation to disease severity, or trials are interventional, supplying extra dosages like in the aforementioned RCT that used a daily supplement of 200 µg Se, either as Se-rich yeast (NPC) or selenomethionine (SELECT). As mentioned above, analytical studies relying on dietary Se intake are difficult to conduct; therefore, biomarkers of Se status are analyzed [51]. To this end, three biomarkers have achieved high acceptance in the field, i.e., the enzymatic activity of the extracellular glutathione peroxidase-3 (GPX3), total serum or plasma Se concentration (total Se), and the circulating transporter selenoprotein P (SELENOP) [54,71,73].…”

Evaluation of the association between gastric cancer and plasma selenium in Zambian adults: a case–control study

“…Similarly, studying Se intake or estimating its status requires additional resource mobilisation. The main source of Se is dietary [ 24 ], but accurately predicting the status from oral intake is a challenging [ 25 ]. Measurement of Se can be done from plasma, erythrocytes, selenoproteins and glutathione peroxidase activity [ 26 ], and there is recent evidence that urine measurements can also give reliable population level estimates [ 27 ].…”