Multimycotoxin Exposure Assessment in UK Children Using Urinary Biomarkers-A Pilot Survey

Cereal foods are commonly contaminated with multiple mycotoxins resulting in frequent human mycotoxin exposure. Children are at risk of high-level exposure because of their high cereal intake relative to body weight. Hence, this study aims to assess multimycotoxin exposure in UK children using urinary biomarkers. Spot urines (n = 21) were analyzed for multimycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, DON; nivalenol, NW; ochratoxin A, OTA; zearalenone, ZEN; alpha-zearalenol, alpha-ZEL; beta-zearalenol, beta-ZEL; T-2 toxin, T-2; HT-2 toxin, HT-2; and aflatoxin B-1, and M-1, AFB(1), AFM(1)) using liquid chromatography-coupled tandem mass spectrometry. Urine samples frequently contained DON (13.10 +/- 12.69 ng/mL), NW (0.36 +/- 0.16 ng/mL), OTA (0.05 +/- 0.02 ng/mL), and ZEN (0.09 +/- 0.07 ng/mL). Some samples (1-3) contained T-2, HT-2, alpha-ZEL, and beta-ZEL but not aflatoxins. Dietary mycotoxin estimation showed that children were frequently exposed to levels exceeding the tolerable daily intake (52 and 95% of cases for DON and OTA). This demonstrates that UK children are exposed to multiple mycotoxins through their habitual diet.