Dietary Exposure and Risk Assessment of Mycotoxins in Thyme and Thyme-Based Products Marketed in Lebanon

Abstract

This study aimed at evaluating the incidence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in thyme and thyme-based products, related dietary exposure, and cancer risk for regular and high consumption. A total of 160 samples were collected, and 32 composite samples were analyzed. AFB1 and OTA were respectively found in 84% (27/32) and 38% (12/32) of the samples. AFB1 exceeded the limits in 41% (13/32) and 25% (8/32) of the samples according to the Lebanese and European standards, respectively. OTA was unacceptable in only 6% (2/32) and 3% (1/32) of the samples according to the Lebanese and European standards, respectively. AFB1 and OTA daily exposure was shown to be 4.270 and 1.345 ng/kg bw/day, respectively. AFB1 was shown to be associated with 0.41 and 0.35 additional cancer cases per 100,000 persons per year for regular consumption, respectively; while for high consumption, an increase of 0.911 and 0.639 cancer cases per 100,000 person per year was noted, respectively. The margin of exposure (MOE) for OTA was >10,000 for the non-neoplastic effect and >200 for the neoplastic effect, representing no toxicological concerns for consumers.

Dietary Exposure and Risk Assessment of Multi-Mycotoxins (AFB1, AFM1, OTA, OTB, DON, T-2 and HT-2) in the Lebanese Food Basket Consumed by Adults: Findings from the Updated Lebanese National Consumption Survey through a Total Diet Study Approach

“…Consequently, the exposure to AFB1 in this study was associated with 0.105 additional liver cancer cases/100,000 people/year, greater than the risk observed in studies by Raad et al of 0.053–0.055 additional liver cancer cases/100,000 people/year for regular consumers [ 15 ] and Daou et al (0.076 HCC/100,000 people/year) [ 11 ] but less than that reported Hassan et al (0.35–0.41 HCC/100,000 people/year) [ 31 ]. OTA had an exposure of 4.10 ng/kg bw/day, higher than the exposure level reported in other Lebanese studies, such as one conducted by Hassan et al (1.345 ng/kg bw/day) [ 31 ]; however, it was lower than that reported by Raad et al (4.28 ng/kg bw/day) [ 15 ] and Daou et al (7.60 ng/kg bw/day) [ 11 ]. For AFM1, the total exposure (0.39 ng/kg bw/day) was greater than the level obtained from a study by Hassan et al (0.14 ng/kg bw/day) [ 32 ].…”

Determination of heavy metals contamination in thyme products by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

“…Accumulating research has implicated the existence of these toxic heavy metals in many food matrices beyond permissible limits [19] , [20] . Dghaim et al conducted a study on traditional herbs found in the UAE market and showed that the maximum level of Cd in oregano and thyme samples were 0.35 mg/kg and 0.63 mg/kg, respectively, thus exceeding the permissible limit of cadmium 0.3 mg/kg set by the FAO/WHO [6] .…”

Enhancing accessibility for improved diagnosis with modified EfficientNetV2-S and cyclic learning rate strategy in women with disabilities and breast cancer

“…Factors such as model interpretability, integration with existing health IT systems, and adherence to regulatory standards are critical for successful implementation ( 41 ). Future endeavors could center on multi-class classification to differentiate between various types of breast cancer, thereby expanding the model’s applicability in clinical diagnostics ( 42 ). Furthermore, assessing the model’s performance on external datasets and in real-world clinical environments would be crucial to validate its applicability and robustness further.…”