Mycotoxin contamination of herbal medications on sale in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The practice of herbal medication is as old as the culture of the people and despite the advent of modern medication, many people of south eastern Nigeria, still patronizes herbal medication. Herbal medications are consumed directly and could be contaminated with mycotoxins which are detrimental to human and animal health. This study was therefore, designed to determine the extent of mycotoxin contamination of herbal medications on sale in Ebonyi State, South-Eastern Nigeria. In this regard, a multistage random sampling technique was used to select 19 herbal medication samples from stores and markets in Ebonyi State, Nigeria and evaluated for occurrence of three major mycotoxins- aflatoxins (AFs), ochratoxin A (OTA) and fumonisins (FB). Employing wet extraction procedure, mycotoxin occurrence and levels were determined via lateral flow immunoassay technique. Results showed high prevalence of all three mycotoxins in the samples in the order OTA (89.47%), FB (82.46%) and AF (82.21%). Ochratoxin A was highest in Goodswill herbal (23.66 ± 3.51 ppb) and lowest in Goko mixture (0.00 ± 0.00) while fumonisin was highest in Ukwara (634.33 ± 8.00 ppb) and lowest in Iketo-2 mixture (0.00 ± 0.10). Aflatoxin B1 was highest in African Iba (20.00 ± 2.00 ppb) and lowest in Dunamis and Divine roots herbals (0.00 ± 0.00). Data from the analysis of herbal medication samples showed varying concentrations of mycotoxins AFs (0 – 20 ppb); OTA (0 – 23 ppb); FB (0 – 634 ppb) respectively. In conclusion, mycotoxins concentration determined in the herbal samples were above Nigerian and European Union (EU) set limits for OTA only. The co-occurrence of these mycotoxins in herbal samples analyzed in this study raises further awareness to the health risks consumers of these herbal commodities.Keywords: Mycotoxin, herbal medicine, quality, Nigeria.

Assessment of Fungi and Mycotoxins Contaminating Antidiabetic Herbs

“…In this study Aspergillus fungi recorded the highest level in fungal isolates, this is attributed to its widespread in the environment by ability to produce huge numbers of asexual reproductive units and its ability to grow in all environments and endure bad conditions (Pitt & Hocking, 1997). The results are consistent with ( Idu et al, 2011;Ikeagwulonu et al, 2020)…”

“…There are many herbs that studies have indicated to be effective as a treatment for diabetes, such as Ferula assafoetida, Annona squamosal, Zingiber officinale, Gymnema But it should be noted that many of the herbal mixtures used to treat diseases that are sold in local stores and markets are contaminated with many sources of danger, such as Mycotoxigenic Fungi and Mycotoxins (Abed et al, 2020 ;Ikeagwulonu et al, 2020), As well as bacteria and heavy metals (Zamir et al, 2015;Abualhasan et al, 2019). The aim of the current study is to detect the presence of fungal contamination and mycotoxins in some of selected antidiabetic herbs mixtures are widely spread among Iraqis in Diyala Governorate population.…”

Multiple Mycotoxin Contamination in Medicinal Plants Frequently Sold in the Free State Province, South Africa Detected Using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS

“…The OTA concentration from this study was higher than the results of Roy and Kumar [ 56 ] who reported that 44% of 129 herbal samples destined for Ayurvedic medicines were contaminated with OTA (range 0.3–0.00234 µg/kg). Aziz et al, reported higher OTA levels compared to our findings; in their study, 3 out of 17 medicinal plant samples were contaminated by OTA at a mean concentration of (20–80 µg/kg [ 25 ]).…”

“…Furthermore, the control of mycotoxins is inadequately funded, and many African governments do not give priority to mycotoxin control in medicinal plants [ 18 ]. However, the occurrence of mycotoxins has been reported in South Africa [ 16 , 17 ]; Kenya [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]; Nigeria [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]; and Egypt [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ].…”

Pathogenicity study of some seed-borne fungi of onion (Allium cepa L.) from Burkina Faso

“…Many studies have highlighted the central role of plant multiplication materials (seeds, cuttings, grafts) in the prevalence of plant diseases (Mathur and Kongsdal, 2003;Zida et al, 2008;Bonzi et al, 2012a). In addition to these negative effects on the productivity of the plants, the fungi carried and transmitted by the seeds mostly produce some mycotoxins (Ikeagwulonu et al, 2020) which deteriorate the nutritive quality of foods (De Marinis et al, 2019). In Burkina Faso, vegetable seeds in general, and onion seeds in particular, are mainly imported.…”