Study: Selenium may cut men's risk of diabetes

NEW YORK A recent study published in BioMed Central's open access journal, Nutrition and Metabolism, has shown that men with a higher concentration of selenium in their bodies are less likely to develop diabetes.

Tasnime Akbaraly, from the University of Montpellier, worked with a team of researchers to follow 1,162 healthy French men and women for nine years, monitoring plasma selenium concentrations and incidence of dysglycemia. Akbaraly said during the study period, 127 new cases of dysglycemia occurred, of which 70 were in men and 57 in women. She pointed out, however, that elderly men with high plasma selenium concentrations were "significantly associated with a lower risk of developing dysglycemia over the following nine years."

"The reason we observed a protective effect of selenium in men but not in women is not completely clear, but might be attributed to women being healthier at baseline, having better antioxidant status in general and possible differences in how men and women process selenium," Akbaraly said.

Selenium, a trace mineral that is an essential element in several metabolic pathways and is found in such foods as walnuts and various types of fish.