Abstract
Aflatoxin is known to cross the placental barrier and exposures in utero could influence genomic programming, foetal growth and development, resulting in long-term health effects. We aimed to determine aflatoxin exposure in Gambian women at two stages of pregnancy and during the rainy and dry seasons. We examined aflatoxin exposure in pregnant Gambian women at early (<16 weeks) and later (16 weeks onward) stages of pregnancy and at different times of the year, during the rainy (June to October 2009) or dry (November to May 2010) season, using aflatoxin-albumin adducts (AF-alb). Mean AF-alb was higher during the dry season than in the rainy season, in both early and later pregnancy although the difference was strongest in later pregnancy. There was a modest increase in AF-alb in later than early pregnancy (geometric mean 41.8 vs. 34.5 pg/mg, P < 0.05), but this was restricted to the dry season when exposures were generally higher. The study confirmed that Gambian pregnant women were exposed to aflatoxin throughout the pregnancy, with higher levels in the dry season. There was some evidence in the dry season that women in later pregnancy had higher AF-alb levels than those in earlier pregnancy. Further research on the effects of exposure to this potent mutagen and carcinogen throughout pregnancy, including the epigenetic modification of foetal gene expression and impact on pre- and post-natal growth and development, are merited.
Highlights
Aflatoxins are naturally-occurring secondary fungal metabolites mostly produced by Aspergillus species
Aflatoxin is associated with child growth faltering (Gong et al 2002, 2004) and possibly immune function impairment (Turner et al 2003; Jiang et al 2005)
At the time the early pregnancy samples were collected, the average age of the women was 28.9 ± 6.5 years. 70.3% of the women were of Mandinka ethnicity, 10.1% Fula and 19.6% of other or unknown ethnicity
Summary
Aflatoxins are naturally-occurring secondary fungal metabolites mostly produced by Aspergillus species. Aflatoxin contaminates a large proportion of the world’s staple foods, including maize and groundnuts (Wild & Gong 2010) and an estimated 4.5 billion people are exposed worldwide (Williams et al 2004). Fungal growth and aflatoxin production can occur both in the field and during storage under warm and humid conditions (Hell et al 2000). Season has been identified as an important factor in determining aflatoxin exposure in West Africa (Hell et al 2000; Wild et al 2000; Cotty & Jaime-Garcia 2007). In The Gambia, aflatoxin levels are usually higher following harvest and a period of storage during the dry season from November to May than during the rainy season from June to October (Wild et al 2000). The rainy season has been called the ‘hungry’ season (vs. the dry ‘harvest’) because it is a period of intense physical activity but at a time when stores of staple foods are depleted (Thomson et al 1966)
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