applied sciences Review Selenium Deficiency—From Soil to Thyroid Cancer Latifa Sarra Kazi Tani 1,2,* , Nouria Dennouni-Medjati 2 , Benoit Toubhans 1 and Laurent Charlet 1,* 1 ISTerre, University of Grenoble-Alpes and CNRS, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble CEDEX 9, France;
[email protected] 2 Analytical Chemistry and Electrochemistry Laboratory, Abou Bekr BELKAID University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen 13000, Algeria;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] (L.S.K.T.);
[email protected] (L.C.) Received: 15 June 2020; Accepted: 12 July 2020; Published: 4 August 2020 Featured Application: The paper underlines the link between soil, food and human health, with a particular emphasis on thyroid cancer in case of Se deficiency, in order to provide a scientific basis to Public Health Recommendations. Abstract: Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient present in human diet, entering in the composition of selenoproteins as selenocysteine (Se-Cys) amino acid. At the thyroid level, these proteins play an important role as antioxidant and in hormone metabolism. Selenoproteins are essential for the balance of redox homeostasis and antioxidant defense of mammalian organisms, while the corresponding imbalance is now recognized as the cause of many diseases including cancer. The food chain is the main source of Se in human body. Dietary intake is strongly correlated with Se content in soil and varies according to several factors such as geology and atmospheric input. Both Se deficiency and toxicity have been associated with adverse health effects. This review synthesizes recent data on the transfer of Se from soil to humans, Se U-shaped deficiency and toxicity uptake effects and particularly the impact of Se deficiency on thyroid cancer.