Selenium intake, food sources, and associated factors in Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil):...

Selenium is essential to human health. There are few reports on the analysis of selenium intake in the Brazilian population; however, data have shown that Brazilian are in the deficient range of consumption.

This study aimed to identify the major foods that contribute to dietary selenium and determine the socioeconomic and lifestyle factors associated with selenium intake.

This cross-sectional study used baseline data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

Selenium consumption was evaluated using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) developed and validated for the ELSA-Brasil. To determine the contribution of selenium consumption, each food item was divided by the total selenium intake of the population. Associations between selenium intake (mg/day, dependent variable) and sociodemographic and lifestyle factors (predictors) were tested using multiple linear regression analyses.

The sample comprised 14,780 participants, most of whom were adults (78.5%). Individuals with income ≥ 3 minimum wages were mostly concentrated in the 5th quintile of selenium consumption; positive and significant correlations were found between selenium intake and female sex, age ≥ 60 years, income ≥ 3 minimum wages, higher or postgraduate education, alcohol consumption, and moderate physical activity level. Nuts and fish contributed the most to dietary selenium.

Nuts, meat, and fish contributed the most to the dietary intake of selenium, and selenium intake was associated with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors among the evaluated individuals.