Young Children with Excess of Weight Show an Impaired Selenium Status

People who are overweight/obese commonly experience poorer antioxidant protection. The aim of the present study was to determine whether overweight/obesity is associated with children's selenium status. The study subjects were 573 Madrid schoolchildren aged 8-13 years. Their selenium intake was monitored via a three-day food record. Serum selenium concentration and blood glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity of each subject was also determined, as was body mass index (BMI). Children with excess of weight (BMI>P85) had lower serum selenium concentrations than those of normal weight (64.6 +/- 16.8 mu g/L compared to 75.3 +/- 12.2 mu g/L; p<0.001). Their selenium intake was also lower (1.99 +/- 0.62 mu g/kg compared to 2.73 +/- 0.88 mu g/kg; p<0.001). A positive correlation was found between serum selenium and selenium intake (the best being obtained when intake was measured in mu g/kg/day, r = 0.338, p<0.05), while a negative relationship was seen between serum selenium and all the anthropometric variables recorded (the strongest correlation was seen between serum selenium and BM r = -0.390, p<0.05). Logistic regression showed the risk of selenium deficiency (<70 mu g/L) to increase with BMI [OR = 1.5031 (1.3828-1.6338)] and to decrease with selenium intake [OR = 0.9862 (0.9775-0.9949)] and age [OR = 0.6813 (0.5434-0.8542)] (p<0.001). A correlation was also detected between serum selenium and GPx activity (r = 0.177; p<0.05) but there were no significant relationships between GPx activity and any anthropometric variables, excluding the correlation with waist/hip ratio (r =4.298; p<0.01). Children with excess of weight have a poorer selenium status than children of normal weight, which can contribute to poor antioxidant protection. This situation could be more evident in children with central adiposity.