“…It contaminates a variety of important grains, such as maize, barley, wheat, and others, and thus threatens the health of humans and farm animals . Most studies attribute its toxicity to its induction of endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress, but ZEN differs from other mycotoxins in that it has high estrogenic potency . In particular, α-zearalenol (α-ZOL), a metabolite of ZEN, can exhibit about 70% of the estrogen potency of 17-β-estradiol .…”