Ensuring adequate intakes of selenium may reduce the risk of age-related diseases such as cancer and heart disease, says a new review that supports Bruce Ames’ triage theory.
By analyzing data from hundreds of published articles, Joyce McCann, PhD, and Bruce Ames, PhD, from Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) report that selenium-dependent proteins considered essential to ensuring an organism survives until it reaches reproductive age are largely more resistant to selenium deficiency than non-essential selenoproteins.
Speaking with NutraIngredients-USA at his office in Oakland, Dr Ames called the new paper a "gorgeous review", and said it adds to an earlier analysis of triage theory. Triage – from the French word trier meaning to sort, separate, or select – works on the battlefield by military doctors prioritizing treatments depending on the probable survival of the wounded.
Dr. Ames’ theory works in much the same way: By appreciating that natural selection favors short-term survival over the long-term, Dr Ames’ hypothesized that our short-term survival is achieved by prioritizing the allocation of scarce micronutrients. In other words, to stop us falling over from a lack of iron in the heart, for example, iron is pulled from non-essential sources.
By analyzing the activity and concentrations of 12 selenoproteins, five of which were classified as essential and seven as non-essential, Drs McCann and Ames found that the activity and levels of non-essential selenoproteins were preferentially lost when the organism was moderately selenium deficient.
"Results of the analysis are largely supportive of the theory, suggesting that, among all selenoproteins, dysfunction of those that are nonessential is likely to be the major contributor to increased disease risk due to selenium deficiency," wrote the Oakland-based scientists.
"Since the current [US] RDA (55 micrograms per day, roughly corresponding to 100 micrograms per liter of plasma selenium) is based on the sensitivity of Gpx3 in plasma, Sepp1 is expected to be at suboptimal levels, even in some individuals meeting current selenium intake recommendations. "Based on these findings, it recently was suggested that recommended selenium intake levels should be raised from 55 to 75 micrograms per day," they added.
Selenium is a trace element that occurs naturally in the soil and is absorbed by plants and crops, from where it enters the human food chain - either directly or through consumption of meat and other products from grazing animals.
The mineral is included in between 50 and 100 different proteins in the body, with multifarious roles including building heart muscles and healthy sperm. However, cancer prevention remains one of the major benefits of selenium, and it is the only mineral that qualifies for a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved qualified health claim for general cancer reduction incidence.
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