Selenium and Coronary Artery Disease: Should we supplement high risk patients?

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New Zealand soil and food have a very low selenium content. New Zealanders also have low selenium levels in their blood. This is nothing new for Otago and Southland farmers who have been supplementing livestock for a long time. In previous studies, low selenium has been linked with coronary artery disease. Selenium is essential to the function of a protein called glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1). This proteinÿ¿ÿ¢ÿ¿ÿ¿ÿ¿ÿ¿s function is to eliminate toxins in blood vessels. If selenium is low, GPX1 is low and toxins can accumulate and cause narrowing of blood vessels. Researchers at University of Otago have already shown that if selenium supplements are given to New Zealanders, the activity of the enzyme GPX1 increases. Moreover, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 showed that patients with coronary artery disease who have a low GPX1 activity have more ischemic complications (angina and myocardial infarct) than patients with a higher GPX1 activity. Our main goal is to find out whether high risk cardiac patients who are given selenium supplements do better than patients who do not get supplements. Because of the possible interaction between genotype and response to supplements, we are also planning to determine the characteristics of the GPX1 gene for each participant to the study. This could help us find out which patients would benefit from supplements the most. We are planning to enroll up to 400 patients over the next three years.

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