Abstract
A study was conducted to investigate the frequency and levels of AFM1 and AFM2 in urine from children who attended the emergency service of a pediatric referral hospital in Bogota, Colombia. A survey on the consumption of foods likely to be a source of aflatoxins and on sociodemographic variables was conducted as well. The frequency of AFM1 in urine was found to be 41.7% with an average concentration in positive samples of 16 pg mL−1 ± 10.7 pg mL−1 (range > LOD–48.5 pg mL−1). The presence of AFM1 in the urine was related to the consumption of cereals likely to be contaminated with AFB1, especially corn and rice. No detectable levels of AFM2 were found in any sample. The results show that children’s exposure to aflatoxins in Colombia is indeed a problem and should be one of the priorities of the health authorities. Continuous monitoring of aflatoxins in foods should be carried out, in compliance with Colombian regulations, using analytical methods that allow determination and quantification of aflatoxins in different biological and non-biological matrices at trace levels.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to all the patients who participated in this study and to the parents who approved the taking of the urine sample for the subsequent analysis.
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The study was conducted with funds from the Toxicology Laboratory of the College of Veterinary Medicine, National University of Colombia.
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This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Colombia (report no. 019-233-16) and the Ethics Committee of Fundación Hospital de la Misericordia (HOMI) (report no. 4522 CEI-52-16). An institutional consent was signed for the participation of patients, prior to the admission of this study.
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Sánchez, E.M., Diaz, G.J. Frequency and levels of aflatoxin M1 in urine of children in Bogota, Colombia. Mycotoxin Res 35, 271–278 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-019-00355-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-019-00355-x