# Life-Cycle Assessment of Biofortified Productions: The Case of Selenium Potato
## 2 Materials and Methods  
### Biofortified Products and the Evolution of Consumption Patterns  
Biofortification is the process via which some nutrients are added to food in order to provide a benefit to human health and correct deficiencies in diets [8]. The dilemma related to the definition biofortified food products and the processes used to obtain them derives from the unclear definition proposed in the revision of the \"Codex Alimentarius Commission dated 26 November 2018: \"Biofortification is any process other than conventional addition to food whereby nutrient content is increased or becomes more bioavailable in all potential food sources for the intended nutritional purposes\" [9]. The main objectives that can be achieved through biofortification concern first of all the prevention of risk for human health related to the lack of micronutrients, the correction of dietary habits in some populations, and the improvement of health status; in fact, by enriching food products with antioxidant elements, it is possible to reduce the incidence of cancer and other diseases. In addition to being beneficial for human health, biodrification brings considerable benefits to agricultural productivity, whereby a higher proportion of seedlings survive, initial growth is more rapid, and ultimately yields are higher [10]. Figure 1 shows the practices involved in biofortification and the main effects on reducing micronutrient deficiencies. This research focuses on the cultivation of the selenium-enriched potato (Figure 2) as a response to the needs of Western consumer, modern and health conscious. Selenium is a necessary oligoelement for both humans and animals; it is incorporated as selenocysteine at the active site of a wide range of selenoproteins involved in major metabolic pathways, such as thyroid hormone metabolism, antioxidant defense, and immune function [11]. Low intake of selenium in the diet may cause a number of diseases, including heart diseases,  
Figure 1: Biofortification tools and results. hypothyroidism, reduced male fertility, weakened immune system, and enhanced susceptibility to infections and cancer [12; 13]. Thus, increasing selenium content in food crops offers an effective approach to reduce the selenium deficiency problem in humans and animals [14]. The increase in the content of mineral elements, particularly trace elements such as selenium, in agricultural products, is pursued through the application of both organic and inorganic fertilizers administered directly to the soil or via foliar application. It has been observed that the human population of the world has exceeded the carrying capacity of low-input agriculture, and modern inorganic fertilizers are necessary to obtain the crop yields required to prevent starvation [15]. It is argued, therefore, that the use of inorganic fertilizers must be included in any future strategy for food security. If the widespread use of fertilizers is facilitated, it might be possible to incorporate mineral elements essential for human nutrition before their distribution, as is practiced for selenium in Finland and zinc in Turkey [16]. The use of selenium fertilizers to increase crop selenium concentrations has been particularly successful in both Finland and New Zealand [17; 18; 19; 20]. For example, since the incorporation of selenium into all multielement fertilizers used in Finnish agriculture became mandatory in July 1984, selenium concentrations in many indigenous food items have increased over 10-fold [17; 18; 21; 22]. The importance of selenium to human health is of global interest because selenium deficiency occurs to such an extent that many inhabitants of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh, and China ingest insufficient amounts of Se (less than 10 mg\(\cdot\)day\({}^{-1}\)) in their daily diet [23; 24]. The use and diffusion of bioortified products are achieved thanks to the dual acceptance by farmers and, above all, by consumers.