Screening of aflatoxin M1, a metabolite of aflatoxin B1 in human urine samples in Malaysia: A preliminary study

Aflatoxin is one of the mycotoxins and produced by Aspergillus species of fungi. This toxic compound is ubiquitously found in food commodities such as nuts, cereals, spices and milks and dairy products. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as Group 1 carcinogen. Once AFB1 is ingested by humans, it is metabolized by liver enzymes into many metabolites. One of the metabolites is aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) which can be found in urine samples. This preliminary study aimed to screen the level of AFM1 in urine samples among non-academic staffs of a faculty in Universiti Putra Malaysia. AFM1 was detected in all urine samples (n = 22) ranging from 0.0289 to 0.1547 ng/ml with a mean of 0.0421 ng/ml. From the health point of view, the finding should be a public concern as aflatoxin is a potent-carcinogen for liver cancer and long term exposure to aflatoxin can pose detrimental health effect. Thus, further investigations in a larger sample size should be warranted in order to find the potential consequences of this exposure in Malaysia