PROMEC Unit, Medical Research Council, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa
Shephard, G.S., PROMEC Unit, Medical Research Council, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa
Adverse human health effects from the consumption of mycotoxins have occurred for many centuries. Although mycotoxin contamination of agricultural products still occurs in the developed world, the application of modern agricultural practices and the presence of a legislatively regulated food processing and marketing system have greatly reduced mycotoxin exposure in these populations. At the mycotoxin contamination levels generally found in food products traded in these market economies, adverse human health effects have largely been overcome. However, in the developing world, where climatic and crop storage conditions are frequently conducive to fungal growth and mycotoxin production, much of the population relies on subsistence farming or on unregulated local markets. The extent to which mycotoxins affect human health is difficult to investigate in countries whose health systems lack capacity and in which resources are limited. Aflatoxin B1, the toxin on which major resources have been expended, has long been linked to liver cancer, yet its other effects, such as immune suppression and growth faltering previously observed in veterinary studies, are only now being investigated and characterized in human populations. The extent to which factors such as immune suppression contribute to the overall burden of infectious disease is difficult to quantify, but is undoubtedly significant. Thus, food safety remains an important opportunity for addressing current health problems in developing countries.
aflatoxin B1; carcinogen; fumonisin; immunoglobulin A; mycotoxin; aflatoxicosis; article; cancer incidence; cancer risk; climate change; developing country; esophagus cancer; food contamination; food intake; food processing; food safety; food storage; gastrointestinal symptom; growth retardation; gynecomastia; human; infection risk; kidney disease; liver cancer; malnutrition; morbidity; mortality; mycotoxicosis; neural tube defect; population exposure; poverty; precocious puberty; priority journal; public health; quantitative analysis; risk assessment; risk factor; underweight; Adult; Animals; Cereals; Child; Child, Preschool; Developing Countries; Ergot Alkaloids; Food Contamination; Humans; Infant; Mycotoxicosis; Mycotoxins; Public Health; Risk Factors