Assessment of Human Mycotoxin Exposure in Hungary by Urinary Biomarker Determination and the Uncertainties of the Exposure Calculation: A Case Study.

Judit Szabó-Fodor,Michele Solfrizzo,Tamás Schieszl,Brigitta Bóta,Mária Szeitzné-Szabó,Melinda Kovács,Lucia Gambacorta,Cserne Angeli,András Szabó

doi:10.3390/foods11010015

Abstract

Urinary biomarkers of mycotoxin exposure were evaluated in the case of healthy people (n = 41) and coeliac patients (n = 19) by using a multi-biomarker LC-MS/MS immunoaffinity based method capable to analyse biomarkers of nine mycotoxins, i.e., fumonisin B1 (FB1), fumonisin B2 (FB2), deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN), ochratoxin A (OTA), Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and Nivalenol (NIV). Urinary biomarker concentrations were used to calculate the probable daily intake (PDI) of fumonisin B1, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone and ochratoxin A and compared with their tolerable daily intake (TDI). The human urinary excretion rate values reported in the literature and the 24 h excretion rate measured in piglets were used to estimate and compare the PDI values of the four mycotoxins. The highest mean biomarker concentrations were found for DON (2.30 ng/mL for healthy people and 2.68 ng/mL for coeliac patients). Mean OTA concentration was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in healthy people compared to coeliac patients. PDI calculated with piglets excretion data exceeded the TDI values by a much smaller percentage than when they were calculated from human data, especially for FB1. The uncertainties arising from the different calculations can be well perceived on the basis of these data.

Highlights

Mycotoxins are low molecular weight organic contaminants produced by various fungal species as secondary metabolites during growth on foods
We report the results on the occurrence of DON, ochratoxin A (OTA), ZEN and fumonisin B1 (FB1) in urine samples of 60 (41 healthy and 19 coeliac patients) volunteers
60 urine samples from healthy people and coeliac patients living in Hungary were analysed for the presence of 12 urinary mycotoxins and/or their metabolites

Summary

Introduction

Mycotoxins are low molecular weight organic contaminants produced by various fungal species as secondary metabolites during growth on foods. Aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN), fumonisins (FBs) and ochratoxin A (OTA) are the major mycotoxins in agricultural products and food products which are monitored worldwide. These chemicals are responsible for a variety of negative health effects. Food consumption data and prevalence data for appropriate foods are generally used to estimate population exposure This method cannot estimate individual intake, it usually does not take into account all sources of contamination, so biomarker-based methods are increasingly used to assess blood or urine concentrations of dietary exposure [1,2]. A number of studies were performed worldwide in which risk assessment was performed based on urinary biomarkers [4,5,6,7,8,9]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion