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Hair Se Is a Sensitive Biomarker to Monitor the Effects of Se Supplementation in Elderly

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Abstract

It is rapidly increasing to have selenium (Se) supplementation for urban elderly population in China since they are facing a widespread deficiency daily Se intake. However, until now, there is no low-cost, non-invasive, rapid, and reliable method to monitor the health improvement or risk for elderly Se-supplemented population in China. The present cross-sectional study (229 participants with older than 55 years old) performed in Beijing, China, revealed that the Se concentrations of non-supplementer users (n = 27) were 55 ± 23 μg/L in urine, 139.9 ± 102.3 μg/L in serum, and 487.6 ± 158.7 μg/kg in hair. But a significant increase on hair Se concentrations (615.4 ± 238.8 μg/kg) was observed for Se supplementer users (n = 202) (p < 0.05); there were no significant statistical differences in serum and urine between the Se-supplemented (n = 202) and Se non-supplemented groups (n = 27). This indicated the hair Se levels could be a more sensitive biomarker for Se-supplemented elderly population. Participants who consumed Se supplements for 7–12 months had the highest Se status based on hair and serum Se concentrations (p < 0.05). The present study also revealed that most elderly adults in Beijing just need to supplement 50 μg Se per day to achieve Se plateau status. Furthermore, hair Se levels were positively related with triglycerides/TG levels (p < 0.05) but not body mass index/BMI, total cholesterol/TC, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol/LDL, implicating Se supplementation for Se sufficiency baseline in elderly population in Beijing likely posed health risk, especially on TG because of excessive Se oxidation stress. An ongoing monitoring of Se status via hair is still warranted to prevent future Se deficiency or excess in China.

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Acknowledgements

We express our sincere thanks to all participants in our study.

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Author notes

  1. Linxi Yuan and Zheng Feei Ma contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Jiangsu, 215123, Suzhou, China

    Linxi Yuan & Zheng Feei Ma

  2. Key Laboratory of Functional Agriculture, Suzhou Research Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China

    Minming Zhang & Xuebin Yin

  3. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Liqiang Qin

  4. Research Centre, Soochow Setek Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China

    Feng Han

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  1. Linxi Yuan
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  5. Xuebin Yin
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: Linxi Yuan and Liqiang Qin. Ethical application: Liqiang Qin and Linxi Yuan. Performed the experiments: Minming Zhang and Linxi Yuan. Participant recruitment: Feng Han and Linxi Yuan. Analyzed the data: Zheng Feei Ma and Linxi Yuan. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: Xuebin Yin. Wrote the paper: Zheng Feei Ma and Linxi Yuan.

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Correspondence to Linxi Yuan.

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All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Ethics Committee of the Soochow University approved the study protocol (ref. no. ECSU-20160005), and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Yuan, L., Ma, Z.F., Zhang, M. et al. Hair Se Is a Sensitive Biomarker to Monitor the Effects of Se Supplementation in Elderly. Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 488–496 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02674-6

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