Open AccessAflatoxin exposure among lactating women in southern Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Boshe Bergene,
Gebremedhin Samson,
Alemayehu Fikadu,
Eshete Mesfin,
Taye Mestawet,
Stoecker Barbara J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
food science and nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.614
H-Index - 27
ISSN - 2048-7177
DOI - 10.1002/fsn3.1968
Subject(s) - aflatoxin , interquartile range , toxicology , veterinary medicine , mann–whitney u test , urinary system , zoology , biology , medicine , food science
In Ethiopia and many other low‐income countries, little is known about the exposure of lactating women to aflatoxin, which is a major health concern to the mother and her nursing infant. We determined the aflatoxin B 1 contamination of family foods (AFB 1 ) and urinary aflatoxin M 1 (AFM 1 ) of lactating women in Sidama, southern Ethiopia, and compared the levels across agroecological settings (lowland, midland, highland) and two seasons. We conducted two surveys ( n = 360) that represented the dry and wet seasons of the locality. AFM 1 and AFB 1 were determined using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Statistical analysis was made using Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test. The median (interquartile range) AFB 1 was 0.94 (0.63–1.58) ppb. AFB 1 was detected in 95.6% of the food samples, and 13.6% exceeded the 2.0 ppb threshold. We observed an increasing trend for aflatoxin exposure from highland to lowland ( p < .001), but there was no difference between seasons ( p = .743). The median (interquartile range) urinary AFM 1 was 214 (undetectable to 2,582) ppt, and AFM 1 was detectable in 53.3% of the samples. Urinary AFM 1 showed significant difference among agroecological zones ( p < .001) but not between seasons ( p = .275). A significant but weak correlation was observed between AFB 1 and urinary AFM 1 ( r s = 0.177, p = .001). We concluded that lactating women in Sidama, especially those in the lowland area, have unsafe exposure to aflatoxin.