Does boiling affect the bioaccessibility of selenium from cabbage?

•Enzymes increase the organic selenocompounds in the PBET extracts.•The increase of Se in the PBET extracts is related to the Se content of the cabbage.•Se(VI) represents almost 100% of the bioaccessible Se.•Boiling cabbage increases SeMet and reduces Se(VI) in the PBET extracts.

The bioaccessible selenium species from cabbage were studied using an in vitro physiologically-based extraction test (PBET) which establishes conditions that simulate the gastric and gastrointestinal phases of human digestion.Samples of cabbage (Brassica oleracea) grown in peat fortified with different concentrations of Se(IV) and Se(VI) were analysed, and several enzymes (pepsin, pancreatin and amylase) were used in the PBET. The effect of boiling before extraction was also assayed. Selenium speciation in the PBET extracts was determined using anionic exchange and LC–ICP/MS. The selenocompounds in the extracts were Se(IV), SeMet and, mostly, Se(VI) species. The results show that the activity of the enzymes increased the concentration of the selenocompounds slightly, although the use of amylase had no effect on the results. The PBET showed the concentration of inorganic selenium in the extracts from boiled cabbage decreased as much as 4-fold while the release of SeMet and its concentration increased (up to 6-fold), with respect to raw cabbage.