Dietary Selenium and Human Health

Abstract

Next year (2017), the micronutrient Selenium (Se) is celebrating its birthday-i.e., 200 years after first being identified by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius. Despite its impressive age, research into the functions of this essential trace element is very alive and reaching out for new horizons. This special issue presents some recent fascinating, exciting, and promising developments in Se research in the form of eight original contributions and seven review articles. Collectively, aspects of Se supply, biochemical, physiological, and chemotherapeutic effects, and geobiological interactions are covered by leading scientists in the areas of nutritional, basic, and clinical research. It is obvious from the contributions that the bicentennial anniversary will celebrate a micronutrient still in its infancy with respect to being understood in terms of its biomedical importance.

Keywords: biogeochemistry; essential trace element; hidden hunger; micronutrient; nutrigenomics; selenium; selenoprotein; selenosis; supplement.

Figure 1

Overview on the Special Issue entitled “Dietary Selenium and Human Health”. The topics covered in the special issue range from the microscopic to a global perspective, from association to intervention studies in both humans and model systems, with the aim of providing an up-to-date insight into the various research fields that nowadays contribute to our understanding of this essential trace element 200 years after its identification. The numbers in brackets refer to the references. The photograph showing the moon and implying that our work is conducted under the grace of Selene was kindly provided by Wyck Hoffler, MD, Titusville, FL, USA.