Environmental Geochemistry and Health

, Volume 34, Issue 4, pp 417–431 | Cite as

Daily intake of selenium and concentrations in blood of residents of Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia

  • Abdulaziz M. Al-Othman
  • Zeid A. Al-Othman
  • Gaber E. El-Desoky
  • Mourad A. M. Aboul-Soud
  • Mohamed A. Habila
  • John P. Giesy
Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Concentrations of selenium (Se) in food from local markets of Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were measured and daily intake calculated based on information from a questionnaire of foods eaten by healthy Saudis. The daily intake of Se was then compared to concentrations of Se in blood serum. Primary sources of Se in the diet of Saudis were as follows: meat and meat products (31%), egg (20.4%), cereals and cereal products (16%), legumes (8.7%), fruits (6.8%), milk and dairy products (2.0%), beverages (2%), sweets (1.8%), pickles (0.2%), and oil (0.02%). Daily intake of Se, estimated to be 93 μg Se/person/day, was slightly greater than that calculated from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food balance sheet for KSA, which was approximately 90 μg Se/person/day. The daily intake of Se by Saudis in Riyadh was greater than that of Australians or Dutch but less that of Canadians and Americans. There was a statistically significant correlation (R = +0.38, P < 0.05) between daily intake of Se and concentrations of Se in blood serum of Saudis in Riyadh. The mean concentration of Se in serum was 1.0 × 102 ± 30.5 μg Se/l. Taken together, the results suggest that the average Se intake and Se serum concentrations are within the known limits and recommendations, making it unlikely that Saudis are on average at risk of deficiency or toxicity.

Keywords

Micronutrients Deficiency Blood serum ICP-AES Selenium Toxicity Diet Food Saudi Arabia 

Notes

Acknowledgments

The research was financially supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University through research group project No RGP-VPP-130.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Abdulaziz M. Al-Othman
    • 1
  • Zeid A. Al-Othman
    • 2
  • Gaber E. El-Desoky
    • 2
    • 3
  • Mourad A. M. Aboul-Soud
    • 2
    • 3
    • 7
  • Mohamed A. Habila
    • 2
  • John P. Giesy
    • 4
    • 5
    • 6
    • 7
    • 8
  1. 1.Department of Community Health SciencesCollege of Applied Medical Science, King Saud UniversityRiyadhKingdom of Saudi Arabia
  2. 2.Department of ChemistryCollege of Science, King Saud UniversityRiyadhKingdom of Saudi Arabia
  3. 3.Biochemistry Department, Faculty of AgricultureCairo UniversityGizaEgypt
  4. 4.Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Toxicology CentreUniversity of SaskatchewanSaskatoonCanada
  5. 5.Department of Zoology, and Center for Integrative ToxicologyMichigan State UniversityEast LansingUSA
  6. 6.School of Biological SciencesUniversity of Hong KongHong Kong, SARChina
  7. 7.Zoology DepartmentCollege of Science, King Saud UniversityRiyadhKingdom of Saudi Arabia
  8. 8.Department of Biology and Chemistry and State Key Laboratory in Marine PollutionCity University of Hong KongKowloon, Hong Kong, SARChina

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