Title: Aflatoxin exposure assessment in home-made pressed peanut oil consumers and biomarkers of early health effects
Funder: The Academy of Medical Sciences

Abstract: Aflatoxin B1 is a biotoxin that can cause human liver cancer. During the process by which AFB1 causes liver cancer, various changes can be observed, including increased genetic damage and methylation modification of particular genes. Home-made pressed peanut oil (HPP oil) is a kind of traditional edible oil particularly favored by people in some parts of southern China. The high temperature and high humidity climate characteristics of Guangdong Province in China lead to fungal contamination of peanut. The production process of the HPP oil is very simple. There are only three steps of stir-frying peanuts, making peanut cake, and pressing the cake to produce peanut oil, and there is a lack of filtration and detoxification in the process. Therefore, the detection of aflatoxin in HPP oil in some areas always exceeds the regulatory limit (>20Î¼g/kg). Whereas commercially available peanut oils are below the limit for aflatoxin. Compared with southern China, exposure to aflatoxins from edible oils in other regions of China is very low. Therefore, this study will conduct a cross-sectional survey of AFB1 high-exposure populations in parts of Guangdong where the consumption rate of home-made pressed peanut oil is high, and investigate the exposure to AFB1, and whether the exposure of AFB1 in the HPP oil can increase the risk of liver cancer in residents. We will identify a novel early effect biomarker monitoring technology to assess the adverse effect due to the exposure to AFB1, and then conduct health risk assessment. After this we will carry out public health education to increase the public awareness to reduce the exposure level of AFB1. We will assess the health education effect using the knowledge-based questionnaire. The overall aim is to provide a scientific basis for protecting the health of people who consume contaminated HPP oil in southern China.

Lay abstract: Liver cancer ranks second in the incidence and mortality rate of all malignant tumors in the Chinese population. Aflatoxin is a kind of biotoxin produced by fungi such as Aspergillus flavus, and Aspergillus parasiticus, in a high temperature (30-33 degrees Celsius) and moist (relative humidity â‰¥80%) climate, and which can cause human liver cancer. Some people in southern areas of China such as Guangdong have long-term preference for cooking oil with a special aroma of home-made pressed peanut (HPP) oil. Due to the high temperature and humid climate all year round, parts of southern China are particularly suitable for the growth of aflatoxins, making peanuts and other nuts more susceptible to mold contamination. The production process of home-made pressed peanut oil is very simple, including only three steps of stir-frying peanuts, making peanut cake, and pressing to yield peanut oil. The lack of filtration and detoxification process can not completely remove the aflatoxin in peanuts and other nuts, resulting in the detection rate of aflatoxin in home-made pressed peanut oil being very high. This will cause serious health hazards to residents who have long been fed with home-made pressed peanut oil. Therefore, the establishment of sensitive aflatoxin exposure biomarker monitoring technology is of great significance to the health protection of HPP oil consumers under special climatic conditions in the southern China.

Research activity codes: 2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS;2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: CANCER AND NEOPLASMS