Relationships of Fusarium Mycotoxins to disorders and tumors associated with alcoholic drinks

Abstract

Though epidemiological studies incriminate alcoholic beverages in various disorders and tumors, experimental results remain equivocal. Circumstantial evidence is presented which points to mycotoxins, especially those produced by Fusarium field‐microfungi, as the agents responsible for outbreaks of such pathological conditions as “cobalt‐beer cardiorhyopathies,”; “fetal alcohol syndrome,”; Plummer‐Vinson syndrome, and some tumors of the alimentary tract. The sporadic occurrence of mycotoxins in grain and cereals, known to correlate with wet weather, could explain inconsistencies encountered in some epidemiological and experimental studies. The effects of mycotoxins, occasionally present in fermented beverages and in various foodstuffs, may be potentiated by trace quantities of nitrosamines detected in beer and whiskey.