Although toxic in large doses, selenium is an essential trace mineral in the animal diet and in some plants. It has a role in making antioxidant enzymes and a particular role in the functioning of the thyroid gland. This volume examines the chemical activity of selenium and its functional health effects eg towards cancers, in the heart and brain. It also covers other areas such as functional food enrichment, whole body metabolism, and the effects of selenium deficiency on health.

The Chemistry of Selenium; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Selenoproteins; Synthesis of Organoselenium Derivatives of Biological Relevance; Chemistry and Activity of Selenium Dioxide and Selenite Ions; Chemistry and Biochemistry: Selenium species in fish;Current Analytical Strategies and Techniques related to Selenoproteins in Foods; Focus on determination of selenocysteine and selenomethionine in foodstuffs of animal origin by 2D size-exclusion reversed-phase HPLC-ICP MS; Some aspects of selenium determination employing solid phase extraction and atomic absorption spectrometry; Identification of selenometabolites in animals and plants by mass spectrometry; Bioavailability of selenium and selenium compounds in foodstuff by in-vivo testing; Bioavailability of selenium and selenium compounds in foodstuff by in-vitro testing; Assay of selenium in dietary supplements; Selenium as a Modulator of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra in Cancer; Selenium Status Assessment by Questionnaire in Clinical and Cardiovascular Studies; Functional Foods enriched in Selenium; Selenium in Parenteral Nutrition; Biofortification of Fruit and Vegetables with Selenium; Biofortification of Legumes with Selenium in Semiarid Conditions; Selenium in Saliva and Impact on Health; Selenohomolanthionine and its potential use in medicine and nutrition; Therapy with selenium cocktails and co-use of lycopene and selenium; Selenium and cancer; Selenium and Skin Cancer; Selenium and Cancer Metastasis; The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial; Selenium in Autoimmune Thyroiditis; Selenoproteins in Brain; Selenoprotein H in Neuronal Cells; Current Clinical Perspectives of Selenium in Vascular Function and Cardiomyopathy; Selenium and the Heart; Selenium and Kashin-Beck disease; Selenium, the placenta and trophoblast mitochondrial oxidative stress; Selenium and Antioxidant Microgels.