Association of Urinary and Dietary Selenium and of Serum Selenium Species with Serum Alanine Aminotransferase in a Healthy Italian Population
Teresa Urbano,
Tommaso Filippini,
Daniela Lasagni,
Tiziana De Luca,
Peter Grill,
Sabrina Sucato,
Elisa Polledri,
Guy Djeukeu Noumbi,
Marcella Malavolti,
Annalisa Santachiara,
Thelma A. Pertinhez,
Roberto Baricchi,
Silvia Fustinoni,
Bernhard Michalke,
Marco Vinceti
Affiliations
Teresa Urbano
CREAGEN—Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Tommaso Filippini
CREAGEN—Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Daniela Lasagni
Transfusion Medicine Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS of Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Tiziana De Luca
Transfusion Medicine Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS of Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Peter Grill
Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Center Munich, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Sabrina Sucato
Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
Elisa Polledri
Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
Guy Djeukeu Noumbi
CREAGEN—Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Marcella Malavolti
CREAGEN—Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Annalisa Santachiara
AVIS Provinciale, 42013 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Thelma A. Pertinhez
Transfusion Medicine Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS of Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Roberto Baricchi
Transfusion Medicine Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS of Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Silvia Fustinoni
Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
Bernhard Michalke
Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Center Munich, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Marco Vinceti
CREAGEN—Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
The trace element selenium is of considerable interest due to its toxic and nutritional properties, which markedly differ according to the dose and the chemical form. It has been shown that excess selenium intake increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and, possibly, other metabolic diseases like hyperlipidemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). For the latter, however, epidemiologic evidence is still limited. We carried out a cross-sectional study recruiting 137 healthy blood donors living in Northern Italy and assessed their exposure to selenium through different methods and measuring serum selenium species. We performed linear and spline regression analyses to assess the relation of selenium and its forms with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, a marker of NAFLD. Urinary selenium levels were positively and somewhat linearly correlated with ALT (beta regression coefficient (β) 0.11). Conversely, the association of dietary selenium intake with ALT was positive up to 100 µg/day and null above that amount (β 0.03). Total serum selenium was inversely associated with ALT up to 120 µg/L, and slightly positive above that amount. Concerning the different serum selenium species, ALT positively correlated with two organic forms, selenocysteine (β 0.27) and glutathione peroxidase-bound selenium (β 0.09), showed a U-shaped relation with the inorganic tetravalent form, selenite, and an inverse association with human serum albumin-bound selenium (β −0.56). Our results suggest that overall exposure to selenium, and more specifically to some of its chemical forms, is positively associated with ALT, even at levels so far generally considered to be safe. Our findings add to the evidence suggesting that low-dose selenium overexposure is associated with NAFLD.
