Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T13:16:20.403Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Invited commentary in response to: selenium supplementation lowers insulin resistance and markers of cardio-metabolic risk in patients with congestive heart failure: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2018

Wen-Hsing Cheng*
Affiliation:
Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Gerald F. Combs Jr
Affiliation:
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Type
Invited Commentary
Copyright
© The Authors 2018 

Mounting evidence supports the consensus that health benefits of Se supplementation depend mainly on the status of this nutrient in the body. Supplementation of subjects with sub-optimal to deficient status produces increases in the expression of Se-dependent proteins; supplementation of Se-adequate subjects does not further increase the expression of those already optimised proteins, but can increase tissue Se levels, particularly if the dominant food form of Se, selenomethionine, is used. Beneficial effects of Se supplementation have been reported for non-deficient subjects: stimulation of immune functions in healthy elderly and in patients with squamous cell carcinoma or HIV infection( Reference Wood, Beckham and Yosioka 1 Reference Kiremidjian-Schumacher, Roy and Glickman 3 ). Effects on type 2 diabetes risk among non-deficient subjects have been mixed; no effects were observed among adult subjects of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT)( Reference Lippman, Klein and Goodman 4 ) and among younger adult subjects of the Selenium Trial with selenised yeast( Reference Thompson, Ashbeck and Roe 5 ), but there was an increased risk among older adults in both the Selenium Trial( Reference Thompson, Ashbeck and Roe 5 ) and the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer (NPC) trial( Reference Stranges, Marshall and Natarajan 6 ). Similarly, the risk of prostate cancer among non-deficient subjects was reduced in response to Se supplementation in the NPC trial( Reference Clark, Combs and Turnbull 7 ) but not the SELECT trial( Reference Lippman, Klein and Goodman 4 ). Rayman( Reference Rayman 8 ) pointed out the similarly mixed results from prospective studies exploring associations between health status and Se status. Although a meta-analysis concluded that there was an inverse association between Se status and CHD risk, the PREvention of Cancer by Intervention with SElenium pilot trial found modest improvements in plasma cholesterol levels among older adults supplemented with a yeast containing selenomethionine( Reference Rayman, Stranges and Griffin 9 , Reference Flores-Mateo, Navas-Acien and Pastor-Barriuso 10 ), and Se supplementation did not affect CVD in another study( Reference Stranges, Marshall and Trevisan 11 ). Despite these seemingly inconsistent outcomes, these results collectively suggest that subjects entering a clinical trial with low Se status are likely to benefit from supplementation with selenomethionine (either as l-selenomethionine or selenium-enriched yeast).

In this issue of the British Journal of Nutrition, Raygan et al.( Reference Raygan, Behnejad and Ostadmohammadi 12 ) report findings from a cohort of fifty-three participants diagnosed with congestive heart failure at 45–85 years of age in Kashan, Iran. In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, twenty-six subjects were given selenised yeast at the level of 200 µg Se/d, and twenty-seven were given a placebo. At baseline, and again after 12 weeks, each subject was assessed by analysis of metabolic profiles in serum samples. On the basis of changes in several metabolic and cardiovascular parameters (e.g. decreased insulin, LDL-cholesterol and C-reactive protein concentrations; increased HDL-cholesterol, total antioxidant capacity and glutathione concentrations), the authors concluded that Se supplementation benefited the treatment group, suggesting a protective role of Se supplementation in alleviation of the metabolic syndrome in patients with congestive heart failure.

The fact that either Se deficiency or Se in excess may instigate a common pathological consequence has been shown in studies of type 2 diabetes( Reference Labunskyy, Lee and Handy 13 Reference Zeng, Li and Liu 15 ). This phenomenon is thought to relate to two noteworthy features of Se metabolism. First, at deficient to nutritionally adequate levels of intake, Se is prioritised to support the expression of a relatively small number of selenoproteins. Second, at adequate and greater intakes, Se is increasingly incorporated non-specifically into all proteins by replacement of methionine with selenomethionine residues( Reference Combs 16 ). In this way, the biochemical targets of supplemented Se are fundamentally influenced by the basal Se status of the subject. Se supplementation of Se-deficient subjects may result in health benefits through optimal selenoprotein expression; however, Se supplementation of subjects already of adequate Se status may produce adverse effects. This U-shaped response was pointed out by Waters et al.( Reference Waters, Shen and Glickman 17 ). For this reason, health claims for Se supplementation must be referenced according to the baseline Se status of the subjects in question.

Unfortunately, Raygan et al.( Reference Raygan, Behnejad and Ostadmohammadi 12 ) failed to provide any definitive measure of the baseline Se status of their subjects – for example, serum/plasma Se concentration – nor did they report the results of Se analyses of their intervention agents. These critical omissions leave it uncertain as to whether the effect they show may actually have been because of changing Se status. Although they provided estimates of dietary intakes of Se, those values were imputed on the basis of very old food Se data that were not produced in Iran. It is not likely that the actual intakes of food Se were lower than suggested, as the Se contents of Kashan soils do not seem to be low; in fact, Iran is known to have relatively high levels of soil Se( Reference Nazemi, Nazmara and Eshraghyan 18 ), and it is again uncertain as to whether the subjects of this Iranian cohort were indeed adequate in body Se status before the supplementation. Even if these subjects were actually consuming a background intake of about 55 µg/d, their plasma Se levels should have been in the 60–75 µg/l range, which would have corresponded to nearly full selenoprotein expression – that is, nutritional selenium adequacy. Further, if their subjects actually received a daily supplement of 200 µg Se, their plasma levels would have gone to >150 µg/l, and most of the increase in their plasma Se would have been in non-specific Se in albumin( Reference Combs 16 ), indicating similar increases in proteins of other tissues.

Nonetheless, because the Se supplementation resulted in decreased serum insulin level in this Iranian cohort with congestive heart failure, one might speculate that these patients were low in basal Se status and/or co-conditioned with diabetes. Such possibilities are suggested by reports of diabetes prevention and alleviation of symptoms in diabetic patients by maintaining nutritionally adequate levels of Se( Reference Labunskyy, Lee and Handy 13 , Reference Wu, Cao and Mattson 14 , Reference Rocourt and Cheng 19 ).

It is of great practical interest to know whether Se supplementation can be useful in reducing risk of type 2 diabetes, or any other disease. However, as we have pointed out, this question must be addressed in reference not only to health status but also to subject Se status, as both can affect the metabolic utilisation of this essential nutrient. Therefore, such trials must be careful to characterise subject baseline Se status, as well as the specific identity of the intervention and control agents. Not to do so is to severely limit the inferential value of any findings.

Acknowledgements

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

W.-H. C. and G. F. C. wrote the paper.

The authors take responsibility for its content and declare no conflicts of interest.

References

1. Wood, SM, Beckham, C, Yosioka, A, et al. (2000) β-Carotene and selenium supplementation enhances immune response in aged humans. Integr Med 2, 8592.Google Scholar
2. Hurwitz, BE, Klaus, JR, Llabre, MM, et al. (2007) Suppression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 viral load with selenium supplementation: a randomized controlled trial. Arch Intern Med 167, 148154.Google Scholar
3. Kiremidjian-Schumacher, L, Roy, M, Glickman, R, et al. (2000) Selenium and immunocompetence in patients with head and neck cancer. Biol Trace Elem Res 73, 97111.Google Scholar
4. Lippman, SM, Klein, EA, Goodman, PJ, et al. (2009) Effect of selenium and vitamin E on risk of prostate cancer and other cancers: the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). JAMA 301, 3951.Google Scholar
5. Thompson, PA, Ashbeck, EL, Roe, DJ, et al. (2016) Selenium supplementation for prevention of colorectal adenomas and risk of associated type 2 diabetes. J Natl Cancer Inst 108, djw152.Google Scholar
6. Stranges, S, Marshall, JR, Natarajan, R, et al. (2007) Effects of long-term selenium supplementation on the incidence of type 2 diabetes: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 147, 217223.Google Scholar
7. Clark, LC, Combs, GF Jr, Turnbull, BW, et al. (1996) Effects of selenium supplementation for cancer prevention in patients with carcinoma of the skin. A randomized controlled trial. Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Study Group. JAMA 276, 19571963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. Rayman, MP (2012) Selenium and human health. Lancet 379, 12561268.Google Scholar
9. Rayman, MP, Stranges, S, Griffin, BA, et al. (2011) Effect of supplementation with high-selenium yeast on plasma lipids: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 154, 656665.Google Scholar
10. Flores-Mateo, G, Navas-Acien, A, Pastor-Barriuso, R, et al. (2006) Selenium and coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr 84, 762773.Google Scholar
11. Stranges, S, Marshall, JR, Trevisan, M, et al. (2006) Effects of selenium supplementation on cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality: secondary analyses in a randomized clinical trial. Am J Epidemiol 163, 694699.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12. Raygan, F, Behnejad, M, Ostadmohammadi, V, et al. (2018) Selenium supplementation lowers insulin resistance and markers of cardio-metabolic risk in patients with congestive heart failure: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Br J Nutr, doi:10.1017/S0007114518001253.Google Scholar
13. Labunskyy, VM, Lee, BC, Handy, DE, et al. (2011) Both maximal expression of selenoproteins and selenoprotein deficiency can promote development of type 2 diabetes-like phenotype in mice. Antioxid Redox Signal 14, 23272336.Google Scholar
14. Wu, RT, Cao, L, Mattson, E, et al. (2017) Opposing impacts on healthspan and longevity by limiting dietary selenium in telomere dysfunctional mice. Aging Cell 16, 125135.Google Scholar
15. Zeng, MS, Li, X, Liu, Y, et al. (2012) A high-selenium diet induces insulin resistance in gestating rats and their offspring. Free Radic Biol Med 52, 13351342.Google Scholar
16. Combs, GF Jr (2015) Biomarkers of selenium status. Nutrients 7, 22092236.Google Scholar
17. Waters, DJ, Shen, S, Glickman, LT, et al. (2005) Prostate cancer risk and DNA damage: translational significance of selenium supplementation in a canine model. Carcinogenesis 26, 12561262.Google Scholar
18. Nazemi, L, Nazmara, S, Eshraghyan, MR, et al. (2012) Selenium status in soil, water and essential crops of Iran. Iranian J Environ Health Sci Eng 9, 11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19. Rocourt, CR & Cheng, W-H (2013) Selenium supranutrition: are the potential benefits of chemoprevention outweighed by the promotion of diabetes and insulin resistance? Nutrients 5, 13491365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed