Dietary selenium intake of the Gidra, Papua New Guinea

Selenium (Se) concentrations in the food of the Gidra‐speaking people of Papua New Guinea were measured by fluorometry. Animal foods contained Se in larger concentrations than plant foods. Animal foods of aquatic origin contained more Se than those of terrestrial origin. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed an association between Se and the animal's mercury content. Se concentrations in rice and wheat flour, which were imported from outside of the Gidra land, were more than one order higher than those in locally grown plant foods. The dietary Se intakes of the Gidra in four villages with diverse ecological conditions were calculated based on food consumption survey data. They varied from one village to another: the highest Se intake was observed in the coastal village (132.9 μg/adult male/day), which had greatest fish and purchased food consumption. It was followed by the riverine (97.8) and northern (51.0) villages, and the lowest intake was in the inland village (49.0), where no aquatic animals were available. Sixty to seventy percent of total Se intake in all the villages was from animal foods. Dietary Se intake of the Gidra was shown to vary with the availability of fish and of the imported foods.

Key words:

• Selenium
• food
• dietary intake
• Papua New Guinea

Notes

Present Address: Environmental Chemistry Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa 16–2, Tsukuba‐shi, Ibaraki 305, Japan

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