Determinants of AFM1 in breast milk in a selected group of Egyptian mothers

Nektaria Polychronaki (1, 2) , Paul C Turner (3) , Hannu Mykkanen (4) , Yunyun Gong (3) , Hassan Amra (5) , Mosaad Attia Abdel-Wahhab (5) , Hani El-Nezami (4)

1 Department of Clinical Nutrition
2 Unit of Molecular Epidemiology, LIGHT laboratories
3 Molecular Epidemiology Unit
4 Department of Clinical Nutrition
5 Department of Food Toxicology and Contaminants

In Egypt there is a paucity of biomarker data on aflatoxin exposure. In this study we assessed the level and frequency of breast milk AFM1 as a biomarker of maternal exposure. Breast milk samples were collected from a selected group of 388 Egyptian lactating mothers of children attending the New El-Qalyub Hospital, Qalyubiyah governorate, Egypt, during May-September 2003. Following aflatoxin extraction AFM1 levels were assessed by HPLC with fluorescence detection. Approximately 36 % of mothers tested positive for AFM1 (median 13.5 pg/ml, IQR 10.27 to 21.43). Non-working status (p= 0.018, OR 2.87), obesity (p= 0.004, OR 3.01), high corn oil consumption (p= 0.002, OR 2.21), number of children (>1) (p= 0.025, OR 1.99), and early lactation stage (<1 month) (p= 0.028 OR 3.57), contributed to the occurrence of aflatoxin in breast milk. AFM1 contamination of breast milk was frequent albeit at moderate levels. Growth and development of the infant is rapid and thus it is possible that aflatoxin exposure through breast milk has a significant health effect.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Nektaria Polychronaki, Paul C Turner, Hannu Mykkanen, Yunyun Gong, Hassan Amra, et al.. Determinants of AFM1 in breast milk in a selected group of Egyptian mothers. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2006, 23 (07), pp.700-708. ⟨10.1080/02652030600627222⟩. ⟨hal-00577585⟩