Advances and Perspectives of Selenocompounds as Dietary Supplements to Ameliorate Obesity Biomarkers: From Field to Market

ABSTRACTSelenium in its organic form (such as selenoproteins) is involved in human metabolism, acting as an antioxidant and reducing inflammatory biomarkers associated with overweight and obesity. Nevertheless, their functionality depends on the selenium intake and individuals’ physiological status. The adequate intake of this nutrient has been revised for health experts, and slight adjustments to the Daily Intake Reference Values occurred to avoid toxicity or deficiency and to exert beneficial effects in specific biomarkers such as glutathione peroxidase activity and SELENOP concentration. However, there is a gap in understanding the metabolic effects of selenocompounds in subjects or experimental models with obesity, but promising results have been documented to be included as a coadjutant in this disease treatment. In this sense, many strategies have been developed worldwide to produce Se-enriched foods and supplements containing selenocompounds to increase the accessibility for consumers. In this review, the effects of Se and selenocompounds on the central overweight and obesity biomarkers in different experimental models are addressed. Likewise, the most recent strategies for selenium enrichment in agricultural products and the main trends in selenium-enriched foods and supplements on the global market are discussed.KEYWORDS: SeleniumObesitySupplementationBiofortificationSelenoPGlutathione peroxidase Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Tecnologico de Monterrey under the Challenge-Based Research Grant. Limón Aguilera thanks CONAHCyT for her doctoral scholarship.