Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2010 Feb;54(2):228-39. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.200900281.
Coumarin is a secondary phytochemical with hepatotoxic and carcinogenic properties. For the carcinogenic effect, a genotoxic mechanism was considered possible, but was discounted by the European Food Safety Authority in 2004 based on new evidence. This allowed the derivation of a tolerable daily intake (TDI) for the first time, and a value of 0.1 mg/kg body weight was arrived at based on animal hepatotoxicity data. However, clinical data on hepatotoxicity from patients treated with coumarin as medicinal drug is also available. This data revealed a subgroup of the human population being more susceptible for the hepatotoxic effect than the animal species investigated. The cause of the high susceptibility is currently unknown; possible mechanisms are discussed. Using the human data, a TDI of 0.1 mg/kg body weight was derived, confirming that of the European Food Safety Authority. Nutritional exposure may be considerably, and is mainly due to use of cassia cinnamon, which is a popular spice especially, used for cookies and sweet dishes. To estimate exposure to coumarin during the Christmas season in Germany, a telephone survey was performed with more than 1000 randomly selected persons. Heavy consumers of cassia cinnamon may reach a daily coumarin intake corresponding to the TDI.
香豆素是一种具有肝毒性和致癌性的次生植物化学物质。对于致癌作用，曾认为其可能具有遗传毒性机制，但欧洲食品安全局在 2004 年基于新证据对此进行了否定。这使得首次能够推导可耐受每日摄入量（TDI），并根据动物肝毒性数据得出了 0.1 毫克/千克体重的数值。然而，也有关于接受香豆素作为药物治疗的患者发生肝毒性的临床数据。这些数据显示，与所研究的动物物种相比，人类群体中有一部分人对肝毒性更敏感。目前尚不清楚这种高敏感性的原因；可能的机制正在讨论中。利用这些人体数据，推导得出的 TDI 为 0.1 毫克/千克体重，与欧洲食品安全局的结果一致。营养摄入可能相当大，主要是由于使用了桂皮，桂皮是一种特别受欢迎的香料，用于饼干和甜点。为了估计在德国圣诞节期间香豆素的暴露量，对 1000 多名随机选择的人进行了电话调查。大量食用桂皮的人可能会摄入相当于 TDI 的每日香豆素。
