Importancia del selenio en la práctica clínica

Palabras clave: Selenio. Antioxidantes. Elementos traza. Metabolismo Summary. Selenium’s in clinical practice Selenium is an essential trace element which operates as a constituent of selenoproteins. Its action as an anti-oxidant element is nowadays of paramount actuality. Moreover, selenium has been related with such outstanding processes as cancer and heart diseases. It is worth to point out that the amount of selenium in food depends mainly on the element’s contents of soil. Volcanic earths, intensively irrigated lands and acid soils in general are deficient in selenium. This review also focuses on analytical aspects about the assessment of selenium status. Reference determination method is atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomization and Zeeman-effect background correction. Serum or plasma selenium concentration is the most suitable quantity for assessing selenium status.