International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, Jul 1, 2019
Mycotoxins constitute a relevant group of food contaminants with several associated health outcom... more Mycotoxins constitute a relevant group of food contaminants with several associated health outcomes such as estrogenic, immunotoxic, nephrotoxic and teratogenic effects. Although scarce data are available in Portugal, human biomonitoring studies have been globally developed to assess the exposure to mycotoxins at individual level. In order to overcome this lack of data, the present study concerned the analysis of mycotoxins in 24h urine and first-morning urine paired samples from 94 participants enrolled within the scope of the National Food, Nutrition, and Physical Activity Survey of the Portuguese General Population (2015-2016). Following a saltassisted matrix extraction, urine samples were analysed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the simultaneous determination of 37 urinary mycotoxins' biomarkers and data obtained used to estimate the probable daily intake as well as the risk characterization applying the Hazard Quotient approach. Results revealed the exposure of Portuguese population to zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, ochratoxin A, alternariol, citrinin and fumonisin B 1 through the quantification in 24h urine and first-morning urine paired samples. Risk characterization data revealed a potential concern to some reported mycotoxins since the reference intake values were exceeded by some of the considered participants. Alternariol was identified for the first time in urine samples from a European country; however, risk characterization was not performed due to lack of reference intake value. These results confirmed mycotoxins as part of the human exposome of the Portuguese population reinforcing the need for further studies regarding the determinants of exposure.
The group consuming more meat than recommended has remained stable in the 21th century to include... more The group consuming more meat than recommended has remained stable in the 21th century to include more often men, middle-aged, and people having lower education but income has become non-significant. Identification of population groups with high meat consumption helps to better design and target the interventions and to change the consumption patterns in a healthier and more sustainable direction.
Food Additives and Contaminants Part A-chemistry Analysis Control Exposure & Risk Assessment, 2017
ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based... more ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based food and the risk assessment associated with patulin intake by infants and preschool children. In total, 214 samples of infant fruit juices (48), infant purée (66), and juices for children (small package with straw, 100) were collected over 3 years (2013–15) and analysed using HPLC with ultraviolet detection. Patulin was found in 43.8% of infant juices and 16.7% of infant purée, with all values below the legal limit of 10 μg kg−1 (maximum 8.3 and 7.7 μg kg−1, respectively). The proportion of contaminated samples among fruit juices for children was 43.0%, with the highest patulin concentration at 30.2 μg kg−1, not exceeding the maximum allowed level of 50 μg kg−1. Risk assessment of patulin intake by Serbian infants and preschool children, conducted by deterministic and probabilistic approaches, revealed a hazard quotient well below 1, indicating a tolerable exposure level and no health concern.
This research was performed under the MYCOMIX project “Exploring the toxic effects of mixtures of... more This research was performed under the MYCOMIX project “Exploring the toxic effects of mixtures of mycotoxins in infant food and potential health impact” (PTDC/DTP-FTO/0417/2012) and CESAM UID/AMB/50017/2013, both funded by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal.
Daily life human exposure to several chemical contaminants is a known reality and ingestion of fo... more Daily life human exposure to several chemical contaminants is a known reality and ingestion of food products constitutes one of the main routes of this exposure. Mycotoxins, secondary metabolites of fungi, contaminate food and assume particular importance in Public Health, regarding their potential toxic effects. Considering that mycotoxins occurrence in foods has been frequently reported, in diversified foodstuffs, at low concentrations, it is expected a chronic exposure to mycotoxins in the Portuguese population. Biomonitoring is a relevant key tool to accurately characterize this exposure. In addition, as health-based guidance values are established only for food intake, it is of the utmost importance to find a correlation between urinary biomarkers and food intake. Previous studies had reported associations between food intake and mycotoxins related urinary biomarkers, particularly for DON, OTA and FB1. It is intended, for the first time in Portugal, to estimate the exposure of the population to multiple mycotoxins through the determination of urinary biomarkers and to develop a model of association between biomarkers concentrations and food consumption. An epidemiological, observational and cross-sectional study will be developed, with the analysis of 24-hour urine samples at individual level, in a sub-sample of participants in the recent National Food and Physical Activity Survey. Expected results will contribute: i) to estimate the Portuguese population exposure to mycotoxins, allowing to identify groups of the population more exposed and consequently more vulnerable, and ii) to design intervention strategies at the health promotion level leading to the empowerment of the population to select an adequate diet. Furthermore, and considering the potential consequences of climate change on mycotoxins occurrence in food, this study will allow to anticipate the potential risk associated to mycotoxins exposure in a climate change scenario.N/
Comunicação sobre os riscos da alimentação artificial, numa perspectiva da segurança dos alimento... more Comunicação sobre os riscos da alimentação artificial, numa perspectiva da segurança dos alimentos.N/
Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT), Jul 13, 2017
Anthropogenic climate change is one of the more serious environmental challenges of the 21 st and... more Anthropogenic climate change is one of the more serious environmental challenges of the 21 st and following centuries. After a very brief survey of the scientific consensus on the climate change drivers and future projections its impact on food security is analysed. All aspects of food security, including food access, utilization and price stability are potentially affected by climate change. It will be shown that climate change is also likely to increase the risk of food contaminants through the tendency to increase the use of agrochemicals to balance the effects of more frequent extreme weather events and water scarcity in some regions.
Short film on the portuguese project "Mycomix" concerning the toxic effects of mixtures... more Short film on the portuguese project "Mycomix" concerning the toxic effects of mixtures of mycotoxins in infant food and potential health impact. There is growing concern within public health about mycotoxin involvement in human diseases particularly related to syndromes related to children´s exposure through contaminated food and also dermal contact and inhalation. The natural co-occurrence of mycotoxins is an increasing concern due to the hazard of exposure of combined mycotoxins to humans, which could be expected to exert greater toxicity and carcinogenicity than exposure to single mycotoxins. Addressing these considerations, the present project aims to study the occurrence of multiple mycotoxins and toxicity interactions in baby foods and cereals, two food groups consumed by Portuguese children.Project Mycomix (PTDC/DTP-FTO/0417/2012, FCT, Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, Aug 24, 2017
ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based... more ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based food and the risk assessment associated with patulin intake by infants and preschool children. In total, 214 samples of infant fruit juices (48), infant purée (66), and juices for children (small package with straw, 100) were collected over 3 years (2013–15) and analysed using HPLC with ultraviolet detection. Patulin was found in 43.8% of infant juices and 16.7% of infant purée, with all values below the legal limit of 10 μg kg−1 (maximum 8.3 and 7.7 μg kg−1, respectively). The proportion of contaminated samples among fruit juices for children was 43.0%, with the highest patulin concentration at 30.2 μg kg−1, not exceeding the maximum allowed level of 50 μg kg−1. Risk assessment of patulin intake by Serbian infants and preschool children, conducted by deterministic and probabilistic approaches, revealed a hazard quotient well below 1, indicating a tolerable exposure level and no health concern.
Aula no âmbito do Protocolo INSA-FCULObjectivos: Identificar as principais matrizes alimentares c... more Aula no âmbito do Protocolo INSA-FCULObjectivos: Identificar as principais matrizes alimentares contaminadas com micotoxinas; Identificar as etapas da metodologia analítica para determinação de micotoxinas
The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative HBM4EU (https://www.hbm4eu.eu/the project/) is a join... more The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative HBM4EU (https://www.hbm4eu.eu/the project/) is a joint effort of 28 countries and the European Environment Agency under the Horizon 2020 funding programme of the European Commission. Since 2017, and with a project duration of 5 years, HBM4EU is generating evidence of the current exposure of European citizens to chemicals and the possible health effects in order to assess the associated risks and provide policy makers with scientifically founded advice on chemical safety and human health protection. Following a systematic prioritization exercise, which brought together national and EU level policy needs for knowledge on chemical exposure and health outcomes, mycotoxins (Deoxynivalenol and Fumonisin B1) were in the 2nd prioritisation round considered as priority substances around which the HBM4EU research programme will be developed. Within the three pillars of the HBM4EU, namely, 1. Science to Policy, 2. European HBM Platform and 3. Exposure and Health, answers to several policy questions identified related to mycotoxins exposure and effects will be debated, including the current levels of human exposure and time trends in Europe, geographical differences and highly exposed subgroups (including workers), the availability of toxicokinetics data, methods for analyzing mycotoxins and their metabolites in human samples, the potential for using effect biomarkers, the use of biomonitoring data under a risk assessment framework, derivation of HBM guidance values, exposure to mixtures of mycotoxins and potential interactive effects. During this presentation, challenges related to those questions and human biomonitoring of mycotoxins will be presented and discussed in the light of the available data.Work co-funded by the HBM4EU project, Grant Agreement No: 733032 and by national funds: FCT/MEC - FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020 through CESAM (UID/AMB/50017/2019) and ToxOmics (UID/BIM/00009/2013).N/
RiskBenefit4EU – Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic ... more RiskBenefit4EU – Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic approach (RB4EU) is a project funded by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) under Partnering Grants (GP/EFSA/AFSCO/2017/01) and was launched on the 17th January 2018, at a kick-off meeting in the EFSA’s premises, Parma, Italy. With the focus on the capacity building, it aims to develop a strategy to strengthen the EU capacity to assess and integrate food risks and benefits in the areas of microbiological, nutritional and chemical components through the development of a harmonized framework that will be available to EU member states organizations. Within the 1st year of the project, several deliverables and expected outputs were attained, including: two submitted manuscripts, eight communications in national and international conferences, one mid-report, two training activities, one harmonized risk-benefit assessment (RBA) framework on RBA capacity building, one flyer, a project website and one international workshop and the respective abstracts book. In order to answer to specific project and team member’s needs, some adjustments concerning the team composition and the budget allocated to travels and missions were performed, all in agreement with EFSA. RB4EU allowed to gather, for the first time, a multidisciplinary team to develop a capacity building framework on RBA in foods. After the first year of the project, the team and the capacity building framework on RBA in foods are consolidated, allowing to progress on the Portuguese case-study involving data at national level on nutritional, toxicological and microbiological areas. A close collaboration between team members and EFSA have been developed promoting an important support for the project progress.INSA, INRA, DTU, FCNAUPN/
International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, Jul 1, 2019
Mycotoxins constitute a relevant group of food contaminants with several associated health outcom... more Mycotoxins constitute a relevant group of food contaminants with several associated health outcomes such as estrogenic, immunotoxic, nephrotoxic and teratogenic effects. Although scarce data are available in Portugal, human biomonitoring studies have been globally developed to assess the exposure to mycotoxins at individual level. In order to overcome this lack of data, the present study concerned the analysis of mycotoxins in 24h urine and first-morning urine paired samples from 94 participants enrolled within the scope of the National Food, Nutrition, and Physical Activity Survey of the Portuguese General Population (2015-2016). Following a saltassisted matrix extraction, urine samples were analysed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the simultaneous determination of 37 urinary mycotoxins' biomarkers and data obtained used to estimate the probable daily intake as well as the risk characterization applying the Hazard Quotient approach. Results revealed the exposure of Portuguese population to zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, ochratoxin A, alternariol, citrinin and fumonisin B 1 through the quantification in 24h urine and first-morning urine paired samples. Risk characterization data revealed a potential concern to some reported mycotoxins since the reference intake values were exceeded by some of the considered participants. Alternariol was identified for the first time in urine samples from a European country; however, risk characterization was not performed due to lack of reference intake value. These results confirmed mycotoxins as part of the human exposome of the Portuguese population reinforcing the need for further studies regarding the determinants of exposure.
The group consuming more meat than recommended has remained stable in the 21th century to include... more The group consuming more meat than recommended has remained stable in the 21th century to include more often men, middle-aged, and people having lower education but income has become non-significant. Identification of population groups with high meat consumption helps to better design and target the interventions and to change the consumption patterns in a healthier and more sustainable direction.
Food Additives and Contaminants Part A-chemistry Analysis Control Exposure & Risk Assessment, 2017
ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based... more ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based food and the risk assessment associated with patulin intake by infants and preschool children. In total, 214 samples of infant fruit juices (48), infant purée (66), and juices for children (small package with straw, 100) were collected over 3 years (2013–15) and analysed using HPLC with ultraviolet detection. Patulin was found in 43.8% of infant juices and 16.7% of infant purée, with all values below the legal limit of 10 μg kg−1 (maximum 8.3 and 7.7 μg kg−1, respectively). The proportion of contaminated samples among fruit juices for children was 43.0%, with the highest patulin concentration at 30.2 μg kg−1, not exceeding the maximum allowed level of 50 μg kg−1. Risk assessment of patulin intake by Serbian infants and preschool children, conducted by deterministic and probabilistic approaches, revealed a hazard quotient well below 1, indicating a tolerable exposure level and no health concern.
This research was performed under the MYCOMIX project “Exploring the toxic effects of mixtures of... more This research was performed under the MYCOMIX project “Exploring the toxic effects of mixtures of mycotoxins in infant food and potential health impact” (PTDC/DTP-FTO/0417/2012) and CESAM UID/AMB/50017/2013, both funded by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal.
Daily life human exposure to several chemical contaminants is a known reality and ingestion of fo... more Daily life human exposure to several chemical contaminants is a known reality and ingestion of food products constitutes one of the main routes of this exposure. Mycotoxins, secondary metabolites of fungi, contaminate food and assume particular importance in Public Health, regarding their potential toxic effects. Considering that mycotoxins occurrence in foods has been frequently reported, in diversified foodstuffs, at low concentrations, it is expected a chronic exposure to mycotoxins in the Portuguese population. Biomonitoring is a relevant key tool to accurately characterize this exposure. In addition, as health-based guidance values are established only for food intake, it is of the utmost importance to find a correlation between urinary biomarkers and food intake. Previous studies had reported associations between food intake and mycotoxins related urinary biomarkers, particularly for DON, OTA and FB1. It is intended, for the first time in Portugal, to estimate the exposure of the population to multiple mycotoxins through the determination of urinary biomarkers and to develop a model of association between biomarkers concentrations and food consumption. An epidemiological, observational and cross-sectional study will be developed, with the analysis of 24-hour urine samples at individual level, in a sub-sample of participants in the recent National Food and Physical Activity Survey. Expected results will contribute: i) to estimate the Portuguese population exposure to mycotoxins, allowing to identify groups of the population more exposed and consequently more vulnerable, and ii) to design intervention strategies at the health promotion level leading to the empowerment of the population to select an adequate diet. Furthermore, and considering the potential consequences of climate change on mycotoxins occurrence in food, this study will allow to anticipate the potential risk associated to mycotoxins exposure in a climate change scenario.N/
Comunicação sobre os riscos da alimentação artificial, numa perspectiva da segurança dos alimento... more Comunicação sobre os riscos da alimentação artificial, numa perspectiva da segurança dos alimentos.N/
Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT), Jul 13, 2017
Anthropogenic climate change is one of the more serious environmental challenges of the 21 st and... more Anthropogenic climate change is one of the more serious environmental challenges of the 21 st and following centuries. After a very brief survey of the scientific consensus on the climate change drivers and future projections its impact on food security is analysed. All aspects of food security, including food access, utilization and price stability are potentially affected by climate change. It will be shown that climate change is also likely to increase the risk of food contaminants through the tendency to increase the use of agrochemicals to balance the effects of more frequent extreme weather events and water scarcity in some regions.
Short film on the portuguese project "Mycomix" concerning the toxic effects of mixtures... more Short film on the portuguese project "Mycomix" concerning the toxic effects of mixtures of mycotoxins in infant food and potential health impact. There is growing concern within public health about mycotoxin involvement in human diseases particularly related to syndromes related to children´s exposure through contaminated food and also dermal contact and inhalation. The natural co-occurrence of mycotoxins is an increasing concern due to the hazard of exposure of combined mycotoxins to humans, which could be expected to exert greater toxicity and carcinogenicity than exposure to single mycotoxins. Addressing these considerations, the present project aims to study the occurrence of multiple mycotoxins and toxicity interactions in baby foods and cereals, two food groups consumed by Portuguese children.Project Mycomix (PTDC/DTP-FTO/0417/2012, FCT, Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, Aug 24, 2017
ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based... more ABSTRACT This study reports for the first time in Serbia the occurrence of patulin in apple-based food and the risk assessment associated with patulin intake by infants and preschool children. In total, 214 samples of infant fruit juices (48), infant purée (66), and juices for children (small package with straw, 100) were collected over 3 years (2013–15) and analysed using HPLC with ultraviolet detection. Patulin was found in 43.8% of infant juices and 16.7% of infant purée, with all values below the legal limit of 10 μg kg−1 (maximum 8.3 and 7.7 μg kg−1, respectively). The proportion of contaminated samples among fruit juices for children was 43.0%, with the highest patulin concentration at 30.2 μg kg−1, not exceeding the maximum allowed level of 50 μg kg−1. Risk assessment of patulin intake by Serbian infants and preschool children, conducted by deterministic and probabilistic approaches, revealed a hazard quotient well below 1, indicating a tolerable exposure level and no health concern.
Aula no âmbito do Protocolo INSA-FCULObjectivos: Identificar as principais matrizes alimentares c... more Aula no âmbito do Protocolo INSA-FCULObjectivos: Identificar as principais matrizes alimentares contaminadas com micotoxinas; Identificar as etapas da metodologia analítica para determinação de micotoxinas
The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative HBM4EU (https://www.hbm4eu.eu/the project/) is a join... more The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative HBM4EU (https://www.hbm4eu.eu/the project/) is a joint effort of 28 countries and the European Environment Agency under the Horizon 2020 funding programme of the European Commission. Since 2017, and with a project duration of 5 years, HBM4EU is generating evidence of the current exposure of European citizens to chemicals and the possible health effects in order to assess the associated risks and provide policy makers with scientifically founded advice on chemical safety and human health protection. Following a systematic prioritization exercise, which brought together national and EU level policy needs for knowledge on chemical exposure and health outcomes, mycotoxins (Deoxynivalenol and Fumonisin B1) were in the 2nd prioritisation round considered as priority substances around which the HBM4EU research programme will be developed. Within the three pillars of the HBM4EU, namely, 1. Science to Policy, 2. European HBM Platform and 3. Exposure and Health, answers to several policy questions identified related to mycotoxins exposure and effects will be debated, including the current levels of human exposure and time trends in Europe, geographical differences and highly exposed subgroups (including workers), the availability of toxicokinetics data, methods for analyzing mycotoxins and their metabolites in human samples, the potential for using effect biomarkers, the use of biomonitoring data under a risk assessment framework, derivation of HBM guidance values, exposure to mixtures of mycotoxins and potential interactive effects. During this presentation, challenges related to those questions and human biomonitoring of mycotoxins will be presented and discussed in the light of the available data.Work co-funded by the HBM4EU project, Grant Agreement No: 733032 and by national funds: FCT/MEC - FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020 through CESAM (UID/AMB/50017/2019) and ToxOmics (UID/BIM/00009/2013).N/
RiskBenefit4EU – Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic ... more RiskBenefit4EU – Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic approach (RB4EU) is a project funded by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) under Partnering Grants (GP/EFSA/AFSCO/2017/01) and was launched on the 17th January 2018, at a kick-off meeting in the EFSA’s premises, Parma, Italy. With the focus on the capacity building, it aims to develop a strategy to strengthen the EU capacity to assess and integrate food risks and benefits in the areas of microbiological, nutritional and chemical components through the development of a harmonized framework that will be available to EU member states organizations. Within the 1st year of the project, several deliverables and expected outputs were attained, including: two submitted manuscripts, eight communications in national and international conferences, one mid-report, two training activities, one harmonized risk-benefit assessment (RBA) framework on RBA capacity building, one flyer, a project website and one international workshop and the respective abstracts book. In order to answer to specific project and team member’s needs, some adjustments concerning the team composition and the budget allocated to travels and missions were performed, all in agreement with EFSA. RB4EU allowed to gather, for the first time, a multidisciplinary team to develop a capacity building framework on RBA in foods. After the first year of the project, the team and the capacity building framework on RBA in foods are consolidated, allowing to progress on the Portuguese case-study involving data at national level on nutritional, toxicological and microbiological areas. A close collaboration between team members and EFSA have been developed promoting an important support for the project progress.INSA, INRA, DTU, FCNAUPN/
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Papers by Paula Alvito