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利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 在孟加拉国及周边地区，饮用水中的砷正在影响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？每个原子都有一个原子的分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，孟加拉的砷中毒实际上导致了人们缺硒，这一假设目前正在孟加拉国进行的补硒临床试验中得到验证。如果缺硒假说得到证实，那么富含硒的饮食对于对抗砷中毒是必不可少的，而富含硒的主食将是提供这种基本微量营养素的最佳方式。为此，我们正在研究小扁豆富硒的问题。初步结果表明，小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，加拿大的小扁豆生长在萨斯喀彻温省南部富硒的土壤中。硒对所有人类都是必不可少的，这种富硒小扁豆也是北美市场潜在的健康食品。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态。我们计划进行一系列实验，使用X射线吸收光谱(XAS)来阐明硒的化学形态，并使用XAS成像来可视化定位植物和种子中的硒形态和其他微量营养素。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整个加工过程。测定小扁豆中的硒分子形态将为小扁豆对人类健康的益处提供重要信息，也将为植物吸收硒的生理基础提供信息。如果成功，富硒小扁豆可能会为影响数千万人的健康问题提供一个实用的解决方案。

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.