Food Standards Agency advice on selenium remains the same: you can get all you need by eating a varied and balanced diet. Foods that are good sources of selenium include brazil nuts, fish, meat and eggs.

If you decide to take selenium supplements it is important not to take too much (no more than 0.35 milligrams a day) because this causes selenosis, a condition that in its mildest form can lead to loss of hair, skin and nails.

Over the past 15-20 years, people in the UK have been eating decreasing amounts of selenium. Current selenium levels in the UK population are still high enough to avoid deficiency diseases, but the FSA is commissioning further research to find out whether the decline in dietary selenium could be affecting overall health. In the meantime, the Agency continues to monitor evidence and take advice from expert committees.

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There is also a growing need to educate consumers regarding saturated or trans-fats. To address this issue, the FDA has announced regulations that enforce mandatory labeling of food products containing trans-fats.

Labeling laws create a more educated consumer who has the opportunity to turn to healthier alternatives such as olive oil and make informed decisions after considering the inherent risks in certain foods, says Naidu.

The labeling legislations also serve as a wake-up call to the food manufacturers to reexamine and even reformulate their ingredients. It simultaneously offers a good market opportunity for healthy oils and fats, resulting in the search for new or altered processing methods and alternative fats and oils ingredients.

Following this trend, the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has discovered new breeds of corn to create cooking oils and margarine that lower blood cholesterol. Another new blend of cooking oils has the potential to heighten the metabolic rate in humans, thereby lowering cholesterol level by about 13 percent.

Margarine spreads containing natural plant sterols are formulated in such a way that they contain less cholesterol-raising saturated fat and more cholesterol-reducing polyunsaturated fat and could also reduce cholesterol almost up to 10 percent within three weeks, concludes Nadkarny.

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