SELENIUM RICH LENTILS: A WHOLE FOOD SOLUTION FOR IMPROVED HUMAN HEALTH?

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 饮用水中的砷影响着孟加拉国及其周边地区3000多万人。我们以前的X射线吸收光谱研究揭示了砷和硒的毒性之间的密切联系？每个分子都有一个原子，提供了一条相互解毒的途径。这一证据和其他证据有力地表明，孟加拉国砷中毒实际上导致人们缺硒，这一假设目前正在孟加拉国进行硒补充剂的临床试验。如果硒缺乏假说得到证实，那么富含硒的饮食对于对抗砷中毒至关重要，富含硒的主食将是提供这种必需微量营养素的最佳方式。为此，我们正在研究小扁豆的硒富集。初步结果表明，扁豆很容易吸收和储存硒。孟加拉国从包括加拿大在内的几个国家进口小扁豆，小扁豆作物生长在萨斯喀彻温省南部富硒土壤中。硒对所有人类来说都是必不可少的，这种富含硒的扁豆也是北美市场的潜在健康食品。为了更全面地评估扁豆的营养价值，我们需要测量硒的化学形式。我们计划一系列的实验，使用X射线吸收光谱（XAS）来阐明的化学形式和XAS成像可视化定位的硒形式和其他微量营养素在植物和种子。我们将研究实验室种植的植物以及田间收获的种子，并将跟踪种子从植物到餐盘的加工过程。确定小扁豆中硒的分子形式将提供关于小扁豆对人类健康的益处的重要信息，以及关于植物硒吸收的生理学的基本信息。如果成功的话，富含硒的扁豆可以为影响数千万人的健康问题提供一个切实可行的解决方案。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Arsenic in drinking water is affecting upwards of 30 million people in Bangladesh and surrounding areas. Our previous x-ray absorption spectroscopy studies revealed an intimate link between the toxicities of arsenic and selenium ? a molecule with a single atom of each provides a route to mutual detoxification. This and other evidence strongly indicates that the Bangladeshi arsenicosis actually causes people to become selenium deficient, a hypothesis currently under test by clinical trial of selenium supplements in Bangladesh. If the selenium deficiency hypothesis is proven, then a diet rich in selenium is essential to counter the arsenicosis and a staple food enriched in selenium would be the best way of providing this essential micronutrient. To this end we are investigating selenium enrichment of lentils. Preliminary results show that lentils readily take up and store selenium. Bangladesh imports lentils from several countries including Canada, where the lentil crop grows in selenium-rich soils of southern Saskatchewan. Selenium is essential for all humans, and such selenium-rich lentils are also a potential health food for North American markets. To more fully assess the nutritional benefit of the lentils we need to measure the selenium chemical form. We plan a series of experiments using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to elucidate the chemical form and XAS imaging to visualize localization of selenium forms and other micronutrients in plant and seed. We will study laboratory grown plants as well as field-harvested seeds and will follow the seed through processing from plant to dinner plate. Determining the selenium molecular form in lentils will provide important information regarding the benefits of the lentils to human health, as well as fundamental information regarding the physiology of plant selenium uptake. If successful, selenium rich lentils could provide a practical solution to a health problem affecting tens of millions.