The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 195 Little Albany Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, United States.
Sci Total Environ. 2011 Nov 15;409(24):5221-7. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.029. Epub 2011 Oct 4.
Despite extensive research and interest in endocrine disruptors, there are essentially no epidemiologic studies of estrogenic mycotoxins, such as zeranol and zearalenone (ZEA). ZEA mycoestrogens are present in grains and other plant foods through fungal contamination, and in animal products (e.g., meat, eggs, dairy products) through deliberate introduction of zeranol into livestock to enhance meat production, or by indirect contamination of animals through consumption of contaminated feedstuff. Zeranol is banned for use in animal husbandry in the European Union and other countries, but is still widely used in the US. Surprisingly, little is known about the health effects of these mycoestrogens, including their impact on puberty in girls, a period highly sensitive to estrogenic stimulation.
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis among 163 girls, aged 9 and 10 years, participating in the Jersey Girl Study to measure urinary mycoestrogens and their possible relationship to body size and development.
We found that mycoestrogens were detectable in urine in 78.5% of the girls, and that urinary levels were predominantly associated with beef and popcorn intake. Furthermore, girls with detectable urinary ZEA mycoestrogen levels tended to be shorter and less likely to have reached the onset of breast development.
Our findings suggest that ZEA mycoestrogens may exert anti-estrogenic effects similar to those reported for isoflavones. To our knowledge, this was the first evaluation of urinary mycoestrogens and their potential health effects in healthy girls. However, our findings need replication in larger studies with more heterogeneous populations, using a longitudinal approach.
尽管对内分泌干扰物进行了广泛的研究和关注，但实际上几乎没有关于雌激素霉菌毒素（如玉米赤霉醇和玉米赤霉烯酮（ZEA））的流行病学研究。ZEA 类真菌雌激素通过真菌污染存在于谷物和其他植物性食物中，通过将玉米赤霉醇故意引入牲畜以提高肉类产量，或通过食用受污染的饲料间接污染动物，存在于动物产品（如肉类、蛋类、乳制品）中。玉米赤霉醇在欧盟和其他国家已被禁止用于畜牧业，但仍在美国广泛使用。令人惊讶的是，人们对这些真菌雌激素的健康影响知之甚少，包括它们对女孩青春期的影响，青春期对雌激素刺激非常敏感。
我们对参加泽西女孩研究的 163 名 9 至 10 岁女孩进行了横断面分析，以测量尿液中的真菌雌激素及其与体型和发育的可能关系。
我们发现，78.5%的女孩尿液中可检测到真菌雌激素，尿液水平主要与牛肉和爆米花的摄入有关。此外，尿液中可检测到 ZEA 类真菌雌激素水平的女孩往往更矮，且不太可能开始乳房发育。
我们的研究结果表明，ZEA 类真菌雌激素可能具有类似于异黄酮报道的抗雌激素作用。据我们所知，这是首次评估健康女孩尿液中的真菌雌激素及其潜在健康影响。然而，我们的研究结果需要在更大的、人群更具异质性的研究中，采用纵向方法进行复制。
