Abstract

Exposure to food and environmental contaminants is a global environmental health issue. In this study, innovative LC-MS/MS approaches were applied to investigate mycotoxin co-exposure in mother-infant pairs (n = 23) by analyzing matched plate-ready food, breast milk and urine samples of mothers and their exclusively breastfed infants. The study revealed frequent co-occurrence of two to five mycotoxins. Regulated (e.g. aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol and ochratoxin A) and emerging mycotoxins (e.g. alternariol monomethyl ether and beauvericin) were frequently detected (3 %–89 % and 45 %–100 %), in at least one specimen. In addition, a moderate association of ochratoxin A in milk to urine of mothers (r = 0.47; p = 0.003) and infants (r = 0.52; p = 0.019) but no other significant correlations were found. Average concentration levels in food mostly did not exceed European maximum residue limits, and intake estimates demonstrated exposure below tolerable daily intake values. Infants were exposed to significantly lower toxin levels compared to their mothers, indicating the protective effect of breastfeeding. However, the transfer into milk and urine and the resulting chronic low-dose exposure warrant further monitoring. In the future, occurrence of mycotoxin-mixtures, and their combined toxicological effects need to be comprehensively considered and implemented in risk management strategies. These should aim to minimize early-life exposure in critical developmental stages.

Highlights

  • Agricultural crops are frequently contaminated by a variety of fungal species pre- and postharvest (CAST, 2003)

  • Apart from major mycotoxin classes, so-called ‘emerging’ myco­ toxins such as alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tentoxin (TEN) and altertoxins produced by Alternaria species or beau­ vericin (BEA) and enniatins produced by Fusarium species gained more interest in recent years with advancement in analytical tools

  • In this paper we report the first comprehensive assessment of mycotoxin-mixtures across different food/biological matrices in motherinfant pairs

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Summary

Introduction

Agricultural crops are frequently contaminated by a variety of fungal species pre- and postharvest (CAST, 2003). Apart from major mycotoxin classes, so-called ‘emerging’ myco­ toxins such as alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tentoxin (TEN) and altertoxins produced by Alternaria species or beau­ vericin (BEA) and enniatins produced by Fusarium species gained more interest in recent years with advancement in analytical tools These mycotoxins are not routinely monitored in food or other matrices and data for their toxicological characterization are frequently missing. This data was used to compare exposure of mothers and their infants

Study population and area
Exposure assessment
Statistical analysis
Demographic data of participants
Mycotoxin levels in plate-ready foods
Mycotoxin levels in breast milk
Urinary mycotoxin levels in mothers and infants
Correlation of mycotoxins across matrices
Exposure assessment of mothers and their infants
Limitations and future perspectives
Conclusion

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