Association between selenium nutritional status and metabolic risk factors in men with visceral obesity.

Background And Aim: Previous evidence has suggested an association between selenium and cardiovascular disease, which is main outcome of metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study was to examine possible correlation between selenium nutritional status and metabolic risk factors in men with visceral obesity.

Methods: Plasma samples were collected from 123 Indonesian men with visceral obesity. Their metabolic risk factors and selenium nutritional status were analyzed. The eligible subjects (n=78) were stratified according to the International Diabetes Federation: obese, obese plus one component, and obese plus two components or more. Obese plus two components or more were diagnostic criteria of metabolic syndrome. Pearson's correlation was performed to examine the correlation in each group.

Results: In the obese group, selenium positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (r=0.390, P<0.05) and with fatty acid binding protein-4 (FABP4) (r=0.474, P<0.05); glutathione peroxidase-3 (GPx3) activity was inversely correlated with FABP4 (r=-467, P<0.05). In the obese plus one component group, GPx3 activity positively correlated with HDL cholesterol (r=0.413, P<0.05). In the metabolic syndrome group, selenium negatively correlated with monocytes chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 (r=-0.429, P<0.05).

Conclusions: These results show that the association between selenium nutritional status and metabolic risk factors is limited to particular group of obese men with or without metabolic syndrome.