Abstract
Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a trichothecene mycotoxin found on wheat, maize and barley. In ecological surveys in China, DON and other trichothecenes have been implicated in acute poisoning episodes and linked with the incidence of esophageal cancer. In order to better understand exposure patterns, this pilot survey provided a combined measure of urinary un-metabolised or free DON (fD) and its glucuronide metabolite (DG) in a subset of 60 samples taken from the Shanghai Women's Health Study cohort, China. Samples were collected in 1997/1998 from women age 40-70 years. Urinary fD+DG combined was detected in 58/60 (96.7%) samples (mean 5.9 ng DON/mg creatinine; range nd-30.5); a similar frequency, and a mean level approximately half, of that previously observed for women in the UK. Wheat consumption was approximately 25% of that consumed by western diets; thus DON contamination of wheat may be higher in Shanghai than the UK. The de-epoxy metabolite of DON, a detoxification product observed in animals, was not detected, suggesting that humans may be particularly sensitive to DON due to a more restricted detoxification capacity.