Selenium intake from tuna in Galicia (Spain): Health risk assessment and protective role against exposure to mercury and inorganic arsenic

Highlights: • High selenium content makes tuna a great source of Se in the Spanish diet. • The order of Se levels in the canned preparations was: oil > natural > pickled sauce. • Traditional risk assessments advise to moderate tuna consumption in children. • Intake of selenium from tuna prevents the adverse effects of Hg and iAs. • Application of a new criterion of health risk assessment -- Abstract: This study aims to quantify the selenium contribution from tuna to the Spanish diet and evidence the Se protective role against mercury and inorganic arsenic toxicity. Selenium concentrations in tuna were determined by ICP-MS spectrometry (expressed as mg kg⁻¹), and the risk assessment was evaluated joined to Hg and iAs contrasting criteria of regulatory agencies with those that consider the Se protective role. Differences between Se average concentrations in fresh (1.24) and preserved (1.17) tuna were not statistically significant. In canned tuna species, Se presented higher mean levels in Thunnus albacares (1.28) than Thunnus alalunga (1.01) with statistically significant differences (p = 0.002), and among canned preparations a decreasing sequence was observed in different preparation-packaging media: oil (1.42) > natural (1.01) > pickled (0.92). Statistical study showed Hg-iAs as the only pair significantly correlated in all samples. The HI (sum of individual target hazard quotients –THQs-) on the consumption of tuna in Spain, due to exposure to Se, Hg and iAs, revealed the possibility of risk of adverse chronic effects in the six-year-old children group (1.09). According to the maximum allowable tuna consumption rate in meals/week (CR_mw) and the THQs obtained, tuna intake, especially in children, should be moderated. The health benefit values (HBV_Se) were positive in all samples, 14.53 and 15.65 in fresh and preserved tuna, respectively, which allows tuna to be considered safe. The benefit-risk value (BRV) evidenced the Se molar excess with respect to Hg that reached a surplus of 14.32% on Se AI in adults. Since iAs reduces the Se bioavailability, applying a new BRV criterion, the aforementioned percentage decreased to 13.49% of Se AI. In conclusion, tuna offers high levels of selenium to counteract adverse effects by the presence of Hg and iAs, and to provide consumers an important source of this essential element safely.