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2023
Healthy Diet and Selenium Help Improve Metabolic Syndrome

Healthy Diet and Selenium Help Improve Metabolic Syndrome

Adding the mineral selenium to a diet based on Mediterranean eating patterns could help improve metabolic syndrome, suggests a clinical trial reported in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism on September 25, 2023.

The term metabolic syndrome refers to a collection of objective indicators that significantly increase the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gallstones and other diseases. It is diagnosed when a patient has three or more of the following conditions:

Large waist circumference
High blood pressure
High triglycerides
Low HDL cholesterol
High blood sugar

The 12-month trial included 206 men and women with metabolic syndrome, who were organized into three groups: one which ate a calorie-controlled Mediterranean-style diet; a second group, which followed this same diet and also took 200 micrograms of selenium for a 30-day period; and a control group which did not receive dietary guidance or take selenium. The results? Participants in the second group had significantly lower cardiometabolic risk markers than the control group, including their body mass index (BMI), visceral fat, triglycerides, the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein, and hemoglobin A1c, a marker of long-term glucose control. They also fared better than those who followed the diet but did not take selenium.

So why might selenium be a key differentiator? This trace mineral may help manage increased oxidative stress; greater oxidative stress has been associated with increases in some metabolic syndrome components. “Excessive reactive oxygen species production can activate the immune system and trigger inflammation, contributing to the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome,” the authors explained.

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Apply What You’ve Learned: Metabolic Syndrome

According to the American Heart Association, metabolic syndrome exists when an individual has at least three of the following factors: waist circumference of more than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women, blood pressure greater than 130/85 mmHg, fasting triglycerides of at least 150 mg/dL, HDL cholesterol of less than 40 mg/dL for men or 50 mg/dL for women and elevated glucose levels of greater than 100 mg/dL.²
Metabolic syndrome is not considered a disease, but it is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, fatty liver, cholesterol gallstones, asthma, sleep problems and some forms of cancer.³
Adopting a Mediterranean diet may help improve metabolic syndrome components. The diet is characterized by frequent intake of olive oil, vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes and unprocessed grains, moderate consumption of fish, red wine and dairy products, and rare intake of poultry, red meat and processed red meat products.⁴
Regular physical activity may also help improve metabolic syndrome components.⁵

References

Danciu AM et al. J Nutr Metab. 2023 Sep 25:2023:6632197.
American Heart Assoc. “What are the symptoms of metabolic syndrome?” 2023 https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/metabolic-syndrome/symptoms-and-diagnosis-of-metabolic-syndrome
Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Metabolic syndrome.” https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/metabolic-syndrome
Day T et al. J Prev Med Hyg. 2022 Oct 17;63(2 Suppl 3):E56-E64.
Myers J et al. Nutrients. 2019 Jul 19;11(7):1652.

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