Dataset Information

Exposure to aflatoxins and fumonisins and linear growth of children in rural Ethiopia: a longitudinal study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

We hypothesise that exposure to aflatoxins and fumonisins, measured in serum, alters protein synthesis, reducing serum protein and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), increasing inflammation and infection, leading to child's linear growth failure.

Design

Children 6-35 months, stratified by baseline stunting, were subsampled from an intervention trial on quality protein maize consumption and evaluated at two time-points.

Setting

Blood samples and anthropometric data were collected in the pre-harvest (August-September 2015) and post-harvest (February 2016) seasons in rural Ethiopia.

Participants

102 children (50 stunted and 52 non-stunted).

Results

Proportions of children exposed to aflatoxin G1, aflatoxin G2 and aflatoxin M1 were higher in the pre-harvest (8, 33 and 7, respectively) compared to post-harvest season (4, 28 and 4, respectively). The proportion of children exposed to any aflatoxin was higher in the pre-harvest than post-harvest season (51 % v. 41 %). Fumonisin exposure ranged from 0 % to 11 %. In joint statistical tests, aflatoxin exposure was associated with serum biomarkers of inflammation (C-reactive protein, α-1-glycoprotein) and protein status (transthyretin, lysine, tryptophan), IGF-1 and linear growth (all P < 0·01). However, exposure to specific aflatoxins was not significantly associated with any biomarkers or outcomes (all P > 0·05).

Conclusions

Aflatoxin exposure among rural Ethiopian children was high, with large variation between seasons and individual aflatoxins. Fumonisin exposure was low. There was no clear association between aflatoxin exposure and protein status, inflammation or linear growth. A larger study may be needed to examine the potential biological interactions, and the assessment of aflatoxins in food is needed to determine sources of high exposure.

SUBMITTER: Tessema M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8369457 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Evidences indicate that the risk of linear growth faltering is higher among children born from young mothers. Although such findings have been documented in various studies, they mainly originate from cross-sectional data and demographic and health surveys which are not designed to capture the growth trajectories of the same group of children. This study aimed to assess the association between young maternal age and linear growth of infants using data from a birth cohort study in Ethiopia. METHODS:A total of 1423 mother-infant pairs, from a birth cohort study in rural Ethiopia were included in this study. They were followed for five time points, with three months interval until the infants were 12?months old. However, the analysis was based on 1378 subjects with at least one additional follow-up measurement to the baseline. A team of data collectors including nurses collected questionnaire based data and anthropometric measurements from the dyads. We fitted linear mixed-effects model with random intercept and random slope to determine associations of young maternal age and linear growth of infants over the follow-up period after adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS:Overall, 27.2% of the mothers were adolescents (15-19?years) and the mean?±?SD age of the mothers was 20?±?2?years. Infant Length for Age Z score (LAZ) at birth was negatively associated with maternal age of 15-19?years (??=?-?0.24, P?=?0.032). However, young maternal age had no significant association with linear growth of the infants over the follow-up time (P?=?0.105). Linear growth of infants was associated positively with improved maternal education and iron-folate intake during pregnancy and negatively with infant illness (P?<?0.05). CONCLUSION:Young maternal age had a significant negative association with LAZ score of infants at birth while its association over time was not influential on their linear growth. The fact that wide spread socio economic and environmental inequalities exist among mothers of all ages may have contributed to the non-significant association between young maternal age and linear growth faltering of infants. This leaves an opportunity to develop comprehensive interventions targeting for the infants to attain optimal catch-up growth.

Project description:Background:The use of indices of infant and young child feeding practices to predict growth has generated inconsistent results, possibly through age and seasonal confounding. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of a dietary diversity score (DDS) and infant and child feeding index (ICFI) with growth among young children in a repeated cross-sectional and a follow-up study in two distinct seasons in rural southwest Ethiopia. Methods:We used a repeated cross-sectional design comparing child feeding practices to nutritional status in 6-12 month old children during harvest (HS; n?=?320) and pre-harvest season (PHS; n?=?312). In addition, 6-12 month old children from the HS were reassessed 6 months later during PHS. In addition to child anthropometry, child feeding practices were collected using 24-h and 7-day dietary recalls. Results:The mean (±SD) length-for-age z-score (LAZ) of the 6-12 month old children was -0.77 (±1.4) and -1.0 (±1.3) in HS and PHS, respectively, while the mean (±SD) of the follow-up children in PHS was -1.0 (±1.3). The median DDS (IQR) was 2.0 (1.0, 3.0.), 2.0 (2.0, 3.0) and 3.0 (2.0, 4.0) for the children in HS, PHS and the follow-up children in PHS, respectively. The DDS in HS was positively associated with LAZ at follow-up (??=?0.16; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.30; P?=?0.03) after controlling for confounding factors. ICFI and DDS were not associated with mean LAZ, weight-for-height z-score and weight-for-age z-score within season. However, the odds of being stunted when having a DDS???2 was 2.3 times (95% CI: 1.10, 4.78; P?=?0.03) higher compared to a DDS?>?2 child in HS and 1.7 times (95% CI: 1.04, 2.71; P?=?0.04) higher for the pooled sample of 6-12 months old children in HS and PHS. Conclusions:The DDS was found to be an indicator for child stunting during the Ethiopian harvest season. The DDS can be an appropriate tool to evaluate the association of child feeding practices with child growth irrespective of season. Inclusion of other dimensions in the construction of ICFI should be considered in future analysis as we found no association with growth.

Project description:BackgroundWe previously demonstrated that serology holds promise as an alternative diagnostic tool to copromicroscopy to monitor and evaluate deworming programs targeting soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). Here we explored the dynamics of anti-Ascaris antibodies (Ab) and evaluated the Ab-isotype of choice to assess the longitudinal exposure to Ascaris in Ethiopian school children.MethodologyBetween October 2018 and February 2020, stool and blood samples were collected every four months from school children (4 to 6 years of age). Stool samples were analyzed by duplicate Kato-Katz to assess the presence and intensity of any STH infection. Plasma Ab-responses against the total extract of Ascaris suum lung third stage larvae were measured through in-house Ab-ELISA's for seven different Ab-isotypes.Principal findingsAt baseline, 42.4% of the 66 children were excreting eggs of any STH, Trichuris (37.9%) being the most prevalent. The cumulative prevalence (proportion of children tested that positive at least once over the entire study period) was 56.1% for Trichuris and 31.8% for Ascaris. For Ascaris, re-infections were frequently observed, whereas for Trichuris, children often remained excreting eggs following drug administration. When measuring anti-Ascaris Ab-levels, the cumulative seroprevalence was generally higher (IgG4: 60.6%; IgG1: 50.0%; IgE: 36.4%). The individual anti-Ascaris IgG4 levels at baseline were positively associated with the fecal egg counts averaged over the study period, the rate of egg-appearance and the number of positive test results. There was no apparent cross-reactivity between the anti-Ascaris IgG4 Ab-ELISA and Trichuris.Conclusions/significanceWe demonstrate that the children are exposed to STH before the age of four and that the exposure to Ascaris is underestimated when measured with copromicroscopy. Compared to other Ab-isotypes, IgG4 is the Ab-isotype of choice to measure Ascaris exposure in STH endemic settings. Finally, the results also highlight that measuring anti-Ascaris IgG4 levels holds promise as a tool to identify individuals at higher risk for continued exposure to this STH.