Prevalence of Ochratoxin A in Human Milk in the Khorrambid Town, Fars Province, South of Iran

Abstract

Background:Ochratoxins belong to a group of mycotoxins produced as the secondary metabolites by filamentous fungi, such as Aspergillus and Penicillium. These toxins may be teratogenic, mutagenic, hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, and may have immunosuppressive effects and pose a serious health problems to exposed humans and animals.Objectives:The present study aimed to determine the level of ochratoxin A (OTA) in the samples of mothers' milk in the Khorrambid Town, Fars Province, south of Iran.Materials and Methods:Between June and July 2011, samples of human milk were obtained from 87 mothers. The samples were diluted by absolute methanol at 1:4 ratio and after centrifugation, the supernatant was directly used to determine the level of OTA using competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results:Among 87 human milk samples, 84 (96.6%) samples had positive results for OTA at a mean level of 24.57 ± 13.6 ng/L. According to the European Union Standard, 14 (16%) positive samples revealed more than the maximum limit of 40 ng/L for ochratoxin (range, 1.6-60 ng/L).Conclusions:Presence of OTA in the milk of mothers denotes a probable consumption of a contaminated foods. Therefore, regular monitoring of foods for presence of mycotoxins for lactating mothers seems necessary.

Occurrence of Mycotoxins in Fish Feed and Its Effects: A Review

“…As such, exposure to this toxin may be involved in the development of hepatic cancer, urinary tract tumors and testicular cancer, among other diseases which have been widely reviewed by Malir et al (2016) [115]. Ochratoxin A also seems to accumulate with high incidence, particularly in developing countries, in the breast milk of lactating women [113,116], which might lead to infant exposure. Reduction in hematocrit.…”

Aflatoxin, fumonisin, ochratoxin, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol biomarkers in human biological fluids: A systematic literature review, 2001–2018

“…Several studies also investigated human exposure to OTA and DON (Afshar et al 2013;Ali et al 2016;Assaf et al 2004;Dehghan et al 2014;Turner et al 2011b). A study conducted in Lebanon (Assaf et al 2004) evaluated OTA in the most popular foodstuffs by analyzing plasma samples from 250 volunteers from different regions of the country such as north, south, capital city and village.…”

Assessment of Aflatoxin M1 and Heavy Metal Levels in Mothers Breast Milk in Famagusta, Cyprus

“…These properties make the breast milk a unique nutrition source for infants and many authorities strongly encourage breastfeeding [6]. However, studies from different countries show that breast milk can contain different types and levels of environmental pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, and fungal toxins such as mycotoxins due to maternal dietary exposures [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. These contaminants may potentially lead to negative effects on even infant health.…”