Dietary Fumonisin and Growth Impairment in Children and Animals: A Review

Abstract

Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced primarily by the fungi Fusarium verticillioides and F. proliferatum, which colonize maize in tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates worldwide. Fumonisin exposure is the highest in rural populations that consume large amounts of maize and maize products. Among them, infants and young children are the most vulnerable when they are weaned onto maize‐based foods. Therefore, it is critical to understand the impact of fumonisin on children's health and growth. This review describes the evidence linking fumonisin exposure to child growth impairment. First, toxicological studies that attempt to elucidate the mechanism by which fumonisin may impair growth are discussed. Next, a description is given of candidate biomarkers for accurately capturing fumonisin exposure in humans. Potential human health effects of fumonisin exposure beyond growth impairment, including esophageal cancer and neural tube defects (NTDs), are briefly described. We review epidemiological studies that collectively show an increasing weight of evidence linking fumonisin exposure to growth impairment, particularly in world regions where young children consume maize‐based weaning foods. Additionally, the evidence linking fumonisin exposure to growth impairment in plants and a variety of animal species are reviewed. Finally, we describe interventions to reduce fumonisin in parts of the world where dietary fumonisin exposure is high and is likely to predispose populations to increased health risk.

Lactic Acid Bacteria as Antifungal and Anti‐Mycotoxigenic Agents: A Comprehensive Review

“…FB1 is considered as one of the most toxic and abundant fumonisins, accounting for 70% of the total fumonisins contaminating food and feed. Several reports confirm the association of FB1 consumption with esophageal cancer, growth impairment in human, plants, and animals and defects in the neu-ral tube (Chen, Riley, & Wu, 2018a). Fumonisins not only in free form, but also in cryptic form, a form in which free mycotoxins form compounds and remain undetectable, are fatal to health (Braun & Wink, 2018).…”

“…Immunosuppressing, neurotoxic, nephrotoxic, and hepatotoxic in animals . In addition, fumonisins intake may cause growth impairment in children and animals (Chen, Riley et al, 2018a).…”

Association between Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Indicators and the Nutritional Status of Children (6–23 Months) in Northern Ghana

“…This buttresses the observation that, although a prolonged state of limited or inadequate food intake has been implicated as a major cause of stunting, some emerging evidence now suggests that stunting could continue to prevail even in food-secure households (nutritionally negative deviant children) or vice versa in food-insecure households (nutritionally positive deviant children). This suggests that, among other things, sub-optimal food utilisation, in synergy with other proximal and intermediate factors, may potentially play a significant role in children's nutritional status [42][43][44].…”

“…The influence of cultural beliefs and practices relating to child feeding and caregiving as potential risk factors for undernutrition could also be explored. Mycotoxin exposure as a potential risk factor for child growth impairment has been under investigation in some DCs for the last decade and should also be researched further in the northern regions of Ghana [43,[61][62][63][64].…”

The occurrence and co-occurrence of aflatoxin and fumonisin along the maize value chain in southwest Nigeria

“…Dietary exposure of fumonisin in pregnant mothers has also been associated with the incidence of neural tube defects in infants (Missmer et al, 2006). Recent studies have associated fumonisin exposure with growth impairment in children (Shirima et al 2015, Chen et al 2018a, 2018b.…”