Department of Toxicology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2012 Aug;56(8):1197-211. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201200093. Epub 2012 May 29.
Furan is formed in a variety of heat-treated foods through thermal degradation of natural food constituents. Relatively high levels of furan contamination are found in ground roasted coffee, instant coffee, and processed baby foods. European exposure estimates suggest that mean dietary exposure to furan may be as high as 1.23 and 1.01 μg/kg bw/day for adults and 3- to 12-month-old infants, respectively. Furan is a potent hepatotoxin and hepatocarcinogen in rodents, causing hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas in rats and mice, and high incidences of cholangiocarcinomas in rats at doses ≥ 2 mg/kg bw. There is therefore a relatively low margin of exposure between estimated human exposure and doses that cause a high tumor incidence in rodents. Since a genotoxic mode of action cannot be excluded for furan-induced tumor formation, the present exposures may indicate a risk to human health and need for mitigation. This review summarizes the current knowledge on mechanisms of furan formation in food, human dietary exposure to furan, and furan toxicity, and highlights the need to establish the risk resulting from the genotoxic and carcinogenic properties of furan at doses lower than 2 mg/kg bw.
呋喃是通过天然食物成分的热降解在各种热处理食品中形成的。在研磨烘焙咖啡、速溶咖啡和加工婴儿食品中发现了相对较高水平的呋喃污染。欧洲的暴露评估表明，成人和 3 至 12 个月大的婴儿的平均膳食暴露于呋喃的量可能分别高达 1.23 和 1.01μg/kg bw/天。呋喃是一种有效的肝毒素和肝致癌物，在啮齿动物中引起肝细胞腺瘤和癌，在大鼠中引起胆管癌的高发生率，剂量≥2mg/kg bw。因此，在估计的人类暴露和引起啮齿动物高肿瘤发生率的剂量之间，暴露的安全边际相对较低。由于不能排除呋喃诱导肿瘤形成的遗传毒性作用模式，因此目前的暴露可能表明对人类健康存在风险，需要加以缓解。本综述总结了目前关于呋喃在食品中的形成机制、人类对呋喃的膳食暴露以及呋喃毒性的知识，并强调需要确定低于 2mg/kg bw 剂量下呋喃的遗传毒性和致癌特性所带来的风险。
