Applied methodology
Selenium speciation profiles in biofortified sangiovese wine

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2016.11.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Biofortification is an agronomic-based strategy, utilized by farmers, to produce selenium (Se)-enriched food products that may help reduce dietary deficiencies of Se occurring throughout susceptible regions of the world. The foliar exposure route application ensures a high efficiency of Se assimilation by the plant since it does not depend on root-to-shoot translocation. In this study we treated grapevines of Sangiovese variety in the pre-flowering period with sodium selenate (100 mg Se L−1). Se content was measured in leaves, fruit at harvest time and in wine respectively in treated and not treated samples with ICP-MS. At harvest, a higher amount of Se in the treated leaves compared to untreated ones was found, 16.0 ± 3.1 mg kg−1 dry weight (dw) against 0.17 ± 0.006 mg kg−1 dw in the untreated ones. The treated grapes had a content of Se of 0.800 ± 0.08 mg kg−1 dw, while that untreated one 0.065 ± 0.025 mg kg−1 dw. Immediately after the malolactic fermentation, the wine obtained from treated and untreated vines had a Se content of 0.620 ± 0.09 mg Se L−1 and 0.024 ± 0.010 mg Se L−1 respectively. In our case the percentage of inorganic Se is 26% of the total Se in the untreated wine, while in Se enriched wine this percentage increase to 47.5% of the total Se. The Se(VI) was the inorganic chemical form more present in enriched wine, probably due to foliar application with selenate. Distributions of Se species suggested being careful to the choice of the enrichment solutions to promote a balanced distribution of different chemical forms, perhaps favouring the accumulation of organic forms.

Introduction

The Mediterranean diet has become the reference diet for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, owing to the fact that the major proportion of daily calories comes from plant food, high in antioxidant polyphenols. Red wine seems to be an essential component of the diet, since moderate consumption of wine is associated with lower risk and mortality from cardiovascular disease. These hypothetical health benefits seems to be due to polyphenols in wine, especially red wine. Evidence is also accumulating that wine helps prevent also the development of certain cancers, because of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of polyphenols but their bioavailability is quite low [1].

This research aims to broaden the knowledge on the possibility of producing functional wines rich in beneficial effects to human health, by using selenium (Se) as a fortifying element capable of increasing the antioxidant properties of wine, instead of resveratrol. Se is an element found in the soil, and it naturally appears in water and some foods. Se brings benefits effects in humans, such as prevention of several cancers, benefits in immune system [2] and some protection against the aging process and cardiovascular diseases [3]. Also Se-containing compounds like Se-methylselenocysteine (SeMeSeCys), γ −glutamyl-Se-methylselenocysteine (GGMeSeCys) and selenomethionine (SeMet) are chemoprotective agents, reducing the incidence of different cancers in model systems [4], [5], [6], [7].

Because of the fact that Se content of most of foods is very low, the Se requirement of the body can be satisfied with dietary supplements, while, on the other hand, with Se-enriched foods [8]. It is also important to know not only the total amount of Se in foods but also the chemical forms in which Se is presented, to obtain precise information about the Se benefits. Actually the most dietary Se is adsorbed efficiently but the organic forms is more retrained for further bioactivity (e.g protein incorporation) than that of inorganic Se forms [9], [10].

Section snippets

Plant treatment

The research was carried out in Central Italy (Torgiano (PG), about 220 m a.s.l., 12°43′ E longitude, 43° 02′N latitude). At the mid May before flowering, 21 randomly-selected trees of Sangiovese vineyard were sprayed with a solution containing 100 mg L−1 of Se, obtained by dissolving sodium selenate (Sigma-Aldrich cod. S0882–25 g) in water. For each treatment, 0.5% of the wetting agent “Albamilagro” was added. On the other hand, seven randomly selected ‘control’ trees were sprayed with a water

Recovery test and statistical analysis

The Se accumulation capability of these plants was very high from leaves, grapes to wine, with a significant difference (p < 0.05) with untreated categories.

The recovery of total selenium, spiked into the samples the mixture of Se-enriched sample and nitric acid prior to digestion, was 96.4%. For the Se species determination, the recovery test was performed in two experimental parts: sample extraction method and determination through the proposed anion exchange HPLC analysis. The results showed

Conclusion

The functional food industry, consisting of food, beverage and supplement sectors, is one of the several areas of the food industry that is experiencing fast growth in recent years. This kind of growth is fuelled not only by industrial innovation and development of new products that satisfy the demand of health conscious consumers, but also by health claims covering a wide range of health issues. Roman Viñas et al. [29] declared an inadequate intake of Se in more than 20% of the European

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the reviewers and editor of this article for taking the time to provide valuable suggestions and feedback.

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