Mycotoxins Exposure of Lactating Women and Its Relationship with Dietary and Pre/Post-Harvest Practices in Rural Ethiopia

Mycotoxins can be transferred to breast milk during lactation. Hence, the presence of multiple mycotoxins (aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, and M1, alpha and beta zearalanol, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins B1, B2, B3, and hydrolyzed B1, nivalenol, ochratoxin A, ochratoxin alpha, and zearalenone) in breast milk samples was assessed in our study. Furthermore, the relationship between total fumonisins and pre/post-harvest and the women’s dietary practices was examined. Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was used to analyze the 16 mycotoxins. An adjusted censored regression model was fitted to identify predictors of mycotoxins, i.e., total fumonisins. We detected only fumonisin B2 (15% of the samples) and fumonisin B3 (9% of the samples) while fumonisin B1 and nivalenol were detected only in a single breast milk sample. No association between total fumonisins and pre/post-harvest and dietary practices was found (p < 0.05). The overall exposure to mycotoxins was low in the studied women, although fumonisins contamination was not negligible. Moreover, the recorded total fumonisins was not associated with any of the pre/post-harvest and dietary practices. Therefore, to better identify predictors of fumonisin contamination in breast milk, longitudinal studies with food samples in addition to breast milk samples and with larger sample sizes are needed for the future.