Elsevier

Nutrition

Volume 82, February 2021, 111053
Nutrition

Applied nutritional investigation
An exploratory study of selenium status in healthy individuals and in patients with COVID-19 in a south Indian population: The case for adequate selenium status

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2020.111053Get rights and content
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open access

Highlights

  • The acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is a major health concern.

  • Nutrition and immune status are two critical aspects of fighting the virus successfully.

  • Patients with COVID-19 from southern India showed a significantly lower selenium level in serum compared with controls.

  • Controls had borderline levels of selenium, suggesting that the level of this micronutrient is not optimum in the population studied.

  • Selenium supplementation may be helpful in reducing the effects of the virus.

Abstract

The acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has affected millions of individuals, causing major health and economic disruptions worldwide. The pandemic is still raging, with a second and third wave in a few countries, while new infections steadily rise in India. Nutrition and immune status are two critical aspects of fighting the virus successfully. Recently, selenium status was reported to positively correlate with the survival of patients with COVID-19 compared with non-survivors. We analyzed the blood serum levels in 30 apparently healthy individuals and in 30 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection in the southern part of India. The patients showed significantly lower selenium levels of 69.2 ± 8.7 ng/mL than controls 79.1 ± 10.9 ng/mL. The difference was statistically significant (P = 0.0003). Interestingly, the control group showed a borderline level of selenium, suggesting that the level of this micronutrient is not optimum in the population studied. The results of this exploratory study pave the way for further research in a larger population and suggest that selenium supplementation may be helpful in reducing the effects of the virus.

Keywords

Micronutrient
Immune response
Inflammation
Selenium status
Viral infection
COVID-19

Cited by (0)

This project was funded by Sami-Sabinsa Group Limited. MM participated in the conceptualization, gathering of resources, and reviewing the manuscript. KN participated in the review and editing of the manuscript MM and SG participated in data curation clinical study supervision, and preparation of the first draft. LM participated in the data validation and writing, reviewing, and editing of the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. The authors are affiliated with Sami-Sabinsa Group Limited or Sabinsa Corporation.