Food-chain selenium and human health: emphasis on intake

Following the publication of the landmark trial of Clark et al. in 1996 that appeared to show that Se could reduce the risk of cancer, awareness of the importance of Se to human health has markedly increased. As a result, there is now much more aggressive marketing of Se supplements and functional foods, even in situations where additional consumption of Se is inappropriate. The present review addresses how Se gets into the food chain, the wide variability in Se content of foods and the very different levels of intake between countries and regions. Though it is clear that there are adverse consequences for health of both deficient and excessive intake, health effects at intermediate levels of intake are less…