Aflatoxin–Lysine Adducts in Haitian Patients Ingesting Peanut and Maize Products

Abstract

Aflatoxins are mycotoxins mainly produced by the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. As the major contaminants of peanuts and maize, aflatoxins are causative agents of liver cancer and are associated with immune dysfunction, stunting, and protein deficiency syndromes. Aflatoxins are known to contaminate maize and peanut-based foods in Haiti. Patients at GHESKIO clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, provided blood samples and participated in a dietary survey. Blood samples were analyzed for aflatoxin covalently bound to blood albumin through lysine. Data were analyzed using nominal logistic models, least-squares regression, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Detection of AFB₁-lysine above 0.25 pg AFB₁-lysine/mg albumin was dependent upon frequency of peanut consumption (FP; P < .0486) but not frequency of maize consumption (FM), and a nominal logistic model demonstrated that detection was positively associated with FP. In a least squares regression model, the effect of FP was significantly predictive of log-transformed AFB₁-lysine above 0.25 pg/mg. All 12 of the individuals with detectible circulating aflatoxin biomarkers who had not eaten peanuts had eaten maize or maize products. Peanuts were not the sole source of aflatoxins in the diet of these individuals and maize cannot be ruled out as a contributor of dietary aflatoxin in Haiti.

KEYWORDS:

• Haiti
• aflatoxin biomarker
• peanuts
• maize

FUNDING

This work was funded by the USAID Title XII Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program at the University of Georgia and the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University.