Quantification of aflatoxins and health risk assessment through intake of herbal medicine formulations

Abstract

Aflatoxins (AFs) are frequent contaminants of herbs, which pose a health risk to regular consumers. This study quantified AFs (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, and Total AFs) in 100 of frequently used herbal medicine formulations in Northern Jordan, and assessed the health risk associated with its intake. About half of the samples had levels lower than the detection limit, while the concentrations of AFB1 and Total AFs were higher than the European limits in 10% and 23% of the collected samples, respectively. The mean average daily dose (ADD) of AFB1 through the consumption of the formulations was 3.32 × 10−6 and ranged between 1.21 × 10−9 and 0.00045 ng/kg bwt/day, while the mean ADD of Total AFs was 6.80 × 10−5 and ranged between 3.21 × 10−9 and 0.0015 ng/kg bwt/day. The margin of exposure (MOE) for each medicine herein was far greater than 10,000 as recommended by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for carcinogenic and genotoxic substances. Estimated cancer risk due to life time exposure to AFB1 in herbal medicines was 1.03 × 10−5 (ranged between 4.51 × 10−4 to 1.19 × 10−9 cancers/105 individuals/75 year). The frequent occurrence of AFs in the analyzed samples raised questions on their potential harmful consequences on heavy consumers, and suggested that further official measures could minimize contamination and improve management of the associated cancer risk.

Keywords

• Aflatoxin B1
• LC-MS/MS
• Exposure
• Herbal formulation
• Health risk
• Liver cancer