Abstract
Maize is a major complimentary food for infants (0–4 years) and young children (5–12 years) in Nigeria. In this study, we assessed the risk of exposure of infants and young children (IYC) to some major mycotoxins in stored maize grains from five agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. The probable daily intake approach was employed to determine exposure to five mycotoxins while the margin of exposure (MOE) and population at risk of primary hepatocellular carcinoma approaches were used to characterize the risk of consuming aflatoxin contaminated maize. Infants and young children in the Derived Savannah zone are more exposed to aflatoxins, ochratoxins, and zearalenone while those in the Northern Guinea Savanna zone are mainly exposed to deoxynivalenol and fumonisins. The mean national MOE for infants and children were 0.12 and 0.3 respectively while the risk of developing primary liver cancer was estimated at 152.7 and 61.1 cancer/year/100,000 population of infants and children, respectively. Infants and young children consuming mycotoxin contaminated maize in Nigeria are therefore vulnerable to the adverse health effects. Mycotoxin contamination of maize is still a challenge in Nigeria; mitigation efforts should target the value chain and stricter tolerable limits should be enforced.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important agricultural commodities in the world and is the third most traded cereal after wheat and rice with a production of 745 billion kg over 1.60 million m2 hectares of land in 2012, and Nigeria was ranked the world’s eighth largest producer of maize by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2013 [1]
The results showed high exposure levels to aflatoxins among infants and children with a mean Probable Daily Intake (PDI) of 1909.1 and 763.6 ng·kg−1 bw·day−1 respectively, as compared to the adult groups with a mean national PDI of 318.2 ng·kg−1 bw·day−1
For the first time, mycotoxin risk assessment for infants and young children (IYC) from consumption of a major staple in Nigeria and—more importantly—the risk of liver cancer in this highly susceptible population
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important agricultural commodities in the world and is the third most traded cereal after wheat and rice with a production of 745 billion kg over 1.60 million m2 hectares of land in 2012, and Nigeria was ranked the world’s eighth largest producer of maize by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2013 [1]. Maize is one of the cereals prepared by mothers separately or in combination with other cereals (e.g., sorghum, wheat, or millet) as weaning foods for infants less than five years old [2,3,4]. A major challenge limiting the food safety and nutritional benefits of maize in infants and young children (IYC) is contamination of maize grains by mycotoxins. Frequent contamination of maize grains by different fungi are known to cause major health problems in humans. Aflatoxins are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, nephrotoxic, immune suppressant, and could lead to stunting growth in children [5].
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