CHAPTER 15: Functional Foods Enriched in Selenium

Nowadays functional foods are a challenge in the therapy of different pathologies. Selenium-containing foods can also be considered as functional foods due to the health benefits of this element, which can be supplemented to humans by multivitamins and multimineral preparations containing inorganic Se and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, which contains mainly selenomethionine. However, other selenium-rich supplements can be proposed, such as microalgae, due to the high iodine- and selenium-accumulation capacity. On the other hand, selenium supplementation in products for human nutrition has to be done with caution, having in mind the duality of selenium action in human organism and the narrow range between both toxic and essential levels. This chapter discusses the main aspects related to selenium-enriched functional foods with a focus on the typical concentrations and chemical forms of selenium in foods and food supplements, the nutritional and toxicological aspects of this element, the interaction with mercury and iodine and its bioavailability, bioaccessibility and bioactivity in food.