Chemical and toxicologic studies of native corn in flour and bread

Abstract

During the bread-baking process, total alkaloid content is reduced by about 50%, the pharmacologically active alkaloids (the '-in' types) being reduced to a much greater extent than the less active type ('-inin' type). Using ergotamin and ergokryptin as a basis, total alkaloid levels were calculated from the HPLC data; these results were in a good agreement with the total alkaloid content calculated from 13 individual ergot alkaloids. The changes in the alkaloid spectrum caused by pelletin are shown. In feeding experiments with growing, pregnant, and lactating mice, diets with 0%, 1% and 2% unbaked (MM) or baked (MB) rye ergot were compared for possible toxic effects on reproduction, using animals fed ad libitum or pair-fed controls. A mean ingestion of 3.6 mg of alkaloids/kg body weight per day (MM 2%) was maternally toxic and caused inhibition of conception and implantation. Feeding with 1.3 or 1.6 mg of alkaloids/kg body weight per day (MM 1% and MB 2%) during pregnancy had no significant toxic effect on the embryo or fetus, but resulted in gestation time being prolonged to about 10 h. During lactation, an intake of 2.9 and 3.0 mg of alkaloids/kg body weight per day (MM 1% and MB 2%) led to a considerable reduction in growth (up to 50%) in the young mice compared to the control animals fed ad libitum. Both the determination of total ergot alkaloid content and the feeding experiment indicate that the bread-baking process causes a reduction and consequently a detoxification of ergot alkaloids of about 50%.