Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jun 25, 2026 1 hour, 24 minutes ago
Medical News: Simple Daily Serving of Selenium Fortified Strawberries Shows Surprising Health Benefits
A new clinical study has found that eating just 100 grams of selenium-biofortified strawberries every day for one month may help improve blood sugar control and support liver health in healthy adults. Even more surprising, the specially grown strawberries appeared to outperform conventional selenium supplements, suggesting that obtaining nutrients from whole foods may offer advantages over taking tablets.
Daily consumption of selenium-biofortified strawberries significantly improved blood sugar regulation and liver health
markers in healthy adults
The research was conducted by scientists from the Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Palermo, the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sicily, the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Sciences (SAAF), University of Palermo, and the Department of Laboratory Medicine, P. Giaccone University Hospital, all in Palermo, Italy.
A New Way to Deliver an Essential Nutrient
Selenium is an essential trace mineral that helps regulate antioxidant defenses, metabolism, and liver function. However, modern farming practices and declining soil quality have reduced selenium levels in many foods worldwide.
Instead of relying on supplements, researchers enriched strawberry plants with selenium while they were growing, allowing the fruit to naturally absorb the mineral. This process increased the selenium content of the strawberries by an impressive 419 percent compared to ordinary strawberries.
The randomized, double-blind clinical trial involved 35 healthy adults who were assigned to one of three groups. One group ate regular strawberries, another consumed selenium-biofortified strawberries, while the third received commercially available selenium tablets. Each intervention lasted 30 days.
Better Blood Sugar Without Medication
The results were remarkable. Participants who ate the selenium-enriched strawberries experienced a 73.6 percent rise in blood selenium levels, while those taking selenium tablets showed no statistically significant improvement.
More importantly, the biofortified strawberries produced measurable improvements in several markers linked to glucose regulation. Fasting blood sugar dropped by more than 10 percent, while fasting insulin fell by more than one-third. Insulin resistance also declined significantly, and insulin sensitivity improved by nearly 70 percent.
Researchers emphasized that these participants were already healthy, meaning the strawberries were not treating diabetes but instead helping maintain healthier metabolic balance before disease develops.
This
Medical News report notes that none of these beneficial metabolic improvements were seen in people who consumed regular strawberries or selenium tablets, making the food-based approach especially intriguing.
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Liver Health Also Improved
The study also revealed encouraging effects on liver function. Individuals consuming the selenium-biofortified strawberries showed meaningful reductions in three important liver enzymes—AST, ALT, and GGT—all of which are commonly used to evaluate liver health.
AST declined by roughly 24 percent, ALT fell by approximately 56 percent, and GGT dropped by almost 47 percent. Although all participants remained within normal healthy ranges, these improvements suggest the enriched strawberries may help the liver function more efficiently while supporting healthy glucose metabolism.
Researchers believe selenium helped strengthen the body's antioxidant systems, reducing oxidative stress that can interfere with insulin signaling and normal liver activity. They also suspect that naturally occurring compounds already present in strawberries, including vitamin C, polyphenols, flavonoids, and dietary fiber, worked together with selenium to produce benefits that isolated supplements could not replicate.
Whole Foods May Beat Supplements
The investigators believe the findings highlight an important concept in nutrition. Nutrients delivered within a natural food matrix may be absorbed, utilized, and metabolized differently than purified supplements. The interaction between selenium and the numerous bioactive compounds naturally found in strawberries could explain why the enriched fruit produced benefits while selenium tablets did not.
Although the trial was relatively small and lasted only 30 days, it provides promising evidence that biofortified foods could become a practical, sustainable strategy for helping maintain healthy metabolism and liver function before chronic disease develops.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Nutrients.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/13/2078
For the latest health benefits from fortified whole foods, keep on logging to Thailand
Medical News.
Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/diets-and-nutrition
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/diabetes
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