Marroquín-Cardona A G, Johnson N M, Phillips T D, Hayes A W
Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Escobedo, Nuevo León 66050, Mexico.
School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2014 Jul;69:220-30. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2014.04.025. Epub 2014 Apr 24.
Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites produced by fungal species that commonly contaminate staple foods and feeds. They represent an unavoidable problem due to their presence in globally consumed cereals such as rice, maize and wheat. Most mycotoxins are immunosuppressive agents and some are carcinogens, hepatotoxins, nephrotoxins, and neurotoxins. Worldwide trends envision a stricter control of mycotoxins, however, the changing global environment may not be the ideal setting to control and reduce the exposure to these toxins. Although new technologies allow us to inspect the multi-mycotoxin presence in foods, new sources of exposure, gaps in knowledge of mycotoxins interactions, appearance of "emergent" mycotoxins and elucidation of consequent health effects can complicate their control even more. While humans are adapting to cope with environmental changes, such as food scarcity, decreased food quality, mycotoxin regulations, crop production and seasonality, and other climate related modifications, fungal species are also adapting and increased cases of mycotoxin adverse health effects are likely to occur in the future. To guarantee access to quality food for all, we need a way to balance global mycotoxin standards with the realistic feasibility of reaching them, considering limitations of producers and designing strategies to reduce mycotoxin exposure based on sound research.
霉菌毒素是由真菌产生的有毒代谢产物，这些真菌通常会污染主食和饲料。由于它们存在于全球消费的谷物如大米、玉米和小麦中，所以这是一个不可避免的问题。大多数霉菌毒素是免疫抑制剂，有些还是致癌物、肝毒素、肾毒素和神经毒素。全球趋势预计会对霉菌毒素进行更严格的管控，然而，不断变化的全球环境可能并非控制和减少这些毒素暴露的理想环境。尽管新技术使我们能够检测食品中多种霉菌毒素的存在，但新的暴露源、霉菌毒素相互作用知识的空白、“新兴”霉菌毒素的出现以及由此导致的健康影响的阐明，可能会使对它们的控制更加复杂。当人类正在适应应对环境变化，如食物短缺、食品质量下降、霉菌毒素法规、作物生产和季节性以及其他与气候相关的变化时，真菌物种也在适应，未来可能会出现更多霉菌毒素对健康产生不利影响的情况。为了确保所有人都能获得优质食品，我们需要一种方法，在考虑生产者的局限性并基于可靠研究设计减少霉菌毒素暴露的策略的基础上，平衡全球霉菌毒素标准与实现这些标准的现实可行性。
