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

• Published in: Foods Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 15
• Main Authors: Szabó-Fodor, Judit, Szeitzné-Szabó, Mária, Bóta, Brigitta, Schieszl, Tamás, Angeli, Cserne, Gambacorta, Lucia, Solfrizzo, Michele, Szabó, András, Kovács, Melinda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.12.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Aflatoxin B1; Aflatoxins; biomarker; Biomarkers; Creatinine; Deoxynivalenol; Excretion; Exposure; Food; Food science; Fumonisin B1; Fumonisin B2; Health care; human exposure; Hungary; Mathematical analysis; Metabolites; mycotoxin; Mycotoxins; Nivalenol; Ochratoxin A; Population; Swine; Toxins; Uncertainty; Urine; Zearalenone; Hungary; United States > US; Italy; mycotoxin; Hungary; biomarker; human exposure; uncertainty; urine
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods11010015

Urinary biomarkers of mycotoxin exposure were evaluated in the case of healthy people ( = 41) and coeliac patients ( = 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 FB . The uncertainties arising from the different calculations can be well perceived on the basis of these data.