Maternal dietary habits and mycotoxin occurrence in human mature milk

Abstract

During 2006, 82 samples of human mature milk were collected at Italian hospitals and checked for aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) and ochratoxin A (OTA) by immunoaffinity column extraction and HPLC. AFM1 was detected in four (5%) of milk samples (ranging from < 7 ng/L to 140 ng/L; mean level: 55.35 ng/L); OTA was detected in 61 (74%) of milk samples (ranging from < 5 ng/L to 405 ng/L; mean level: 30.43 ng/L. OTA levels were significantly higher (p less, not double equals 0.05) in milk of habitual consumers of bread, bakery products and cured pork meat. No other statistically significant differences were observed although habitual consumers of pasta (p = 0.059), cookies (p = 0.061) and juices (p = 0.063) had mean contamination values of OTA higher than the moderate consumer. The very few AFB1 positive samples did not allow statistical comparisons. The present study confirms that the occurrence of OTA in human milk is related to maternal dietary habits. The findings support the possibility of dietary recommendations to woman, during pregnancy and lactation, aimed to tentatively reduce the OTA contamination of human milk.

Mycotoxin detection in infant formula milks in Italy

“…The present results are comparable with those obtained by Turconi et al (2004) and Galvano et al (2008) in two studies regarding human milk performed in Italy (198 of 231 samples contaminated with 1-57 ng/L and 74 of 82 samples contaminated with < 5 ng/L-405 ng/L, respectively), while are lower than those reported by Micco et al (1991;1995) (ranges 1700-6600 ng/L and 100-12000 ng/L, respectively).…”

“…OTA was detected in 198 samples (85.7%) at an average value of 6.01 ng/L. More recently, data from milk samples collected from 82 Italian women indicated that 74% of human milk samples contained OTA in the range < 5 ng/L-405 ng/L (Galvano et al, 2008). In the same study AFM1 was detected in four (5%) of milk samples (ranging from < 7 ng/L to 140 ng/L) (Galvano et al, 2008).…”

“…More recently, data from milk samples collected from 82 Italian women indicated that 74% of human milk samples contained OTA in the range < 5 ng/L-405 ng/L (Galvano et al, 2008). In the same study AFM1 was detected in four (5%) of milk samples (ranging from < 7 ng/L to 140 ng/L) (Galvano et al, 2008). Relatively little work on the topic of mycotoxins in infant food has been reported in the literature (Galvano et al, 1998;2001;Lombaert et al, 2003;Tam et al, 2006;Beretta et al, 2002).…”

Ochratoxin A: is it present in breast milk samples obtained from mothers from Ankara, Turkey?

“…In addition, it was reported that, in Egypt, 36% of breast milk samples had 5000-45 000 ng l −1 OTA (AbdAlla et al, 2002) and in Sierra Leone 35% of the samples contained OTA ranging from 200-337 000 ng l −1 (Jonsyn et al, 1995). Recently, Galvano et al (2008) reported that OTA was detected in 74% of breast milk samples ranging from <5 to 405 ng l With regard to its widespread distribution and continuous exposure of human population to OTA, and in addition to its determined wide range of toxic eff ects in animals, studies about the evaluation of its unwanted eff ects in humans is a necessity. According to current methods, complete avoidance of OTA contamination in foodstuff s is not yet possible (Clark and Snedeker, 2006).…”

Mycotoxicoses in children

“…Obviously, breast milk OTA contamination is related to maternal dietary habits, which may vary from country to country. In Italy, significantly higher OTA concentrations in breast milk correlate with the consumption of bread, bakery products, and pork meat (36), while in Norway they correlate with the consumption of liver paste (liverwurst, liver paté) and cakes (cookies, fruitcakes, chocolate cakes) (86). An Egyptian study (78) looked at a number of biochemical parameters in blood and urine of breast-fed children with high and low levels of OTA in maternal milk and children's blood.…”