Selenium levels in whole blood - The borderline low analysis.

Abstract Objectives Selenium is a very important micronutrient. Food is the major source for selenium uptake and the average blood levels is seen to be highly affected by dietary habits as selenium levels in food naturally depend on the kind of soil they are grown upon and in processed foods its levels depend on fortification. Deficiency of this vital nutriment needs to be assessed to understand deficiency prevalence. Design and methods A total number of 529,461 subjects were tested for their blood selenium levels. The study cohort consisted of 284,189 males and 245,272 females respectively. Average blood selenium levels have been analyzed across both the genders using the analytical platform of Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry. Results For borderline low analysis of selenium, values of </= 105 μg/L were considered. The total frequency of borderline low recorded in our study was 3.7%. The average blood selenium levels and further geographical highlights have been included and discussed. Conclusion Our report is an effort to create awareness about the less discussed micronutrient necessity to be tested in the Indian scenario. Highlights • Our report is one of the few to document frequency of borderline low selenium levels in Indian population. • A pan-India cohort of both the gender from age-group of < 2 to older adults were analyzed in this study. • Superior analytical platform of ICP-MS has been used for the analysis. • Report highlights geographical prevalence reiterating the fact for requirement to devise effective management modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]