ABSTRACT

Aflatoxins are naturally occurring food toxins known to contaminate cereals with a carry-over effect in milk and meat products from farm animals raised on contaminated feed. In children, continuous consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated food is linked to immune suppression, vaccine interference and growth faltering while in adult populations, carcinogenesis in the liver has been established. We evaluate the main determinants of aflatoxin exposures among children recruited from primary schools in Makueni and Siaya Counties. A five-part questionnaire was administered to collect information from randomly selected participants. AflatoxinB₁-lysine adducts in children’s sera and total aflatoxins in food samples were analyzed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence detection. Using Chi-squared tests and Kruskal–Wallis tests, children from low-income households had the highest aflatoxin exposure, p-value = 0.0029. Smaller family size, greater food diversity, and good farming practices were associated with low aflatoxin exposures p < 0.001. Individual households living under severe levels of poverty were evidently exposed to higher levels of aflatoxins.

摘要

黄曲霉毒素是一种天然存在的食物毒素，已知会污染谷物，并在使用受污染饲料饲养的农场动物的奶和肉制品中产生残留效应。在儿童中，持续食用受黄曲霉毒素污染的食物与免疫抑制、疫苗干扰和生长迟缓有关，而在成年人中，已经确定肝脏中的致癌作用。我们评估了从 Makueni 和 Siaya 县的小学招募的儿童中黄曲霉毒素暴露的主要决定因素。进行了五部分问卷调查，以从随机选择的参与者那里收集信息。黄曲霉毒素_{B 1}采用带荧光检测的高效液相色谱法对儿童血清中的赖氨酸加合物和食品样品中的总黄曲霉毒素进行分析。使用卡方检验和 Kruskal-Wallis 检验，来自低收入家庭的儿童的黄曲霉毒素暴露量最高，p 值 = 0.0029。较小的家庭规模、较大的食物多样性和良好的耕作方式与低黄曲霉毒素暴露相关，p < 0.001。生活在严重贫困水平下的个别家庭明显暴露于更高水平的黄曲霉毒素。