Cereals consumption and risk for renal cell carcinoma: Can be hypothesized a role of mycotoxins?
✍ Scribed by Fabio Galvano; Alberto Ritieni; Luca La Fauci; Giovanni Li Volti; Claudia Di Giacomo; Luca Vanella; Carmelita Marcantoni; Maja Peraica
- Book ID
- 102270958
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- French
- Weight
- 47 KB
- Volume
- 121
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0020-7136
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Dear Sir,
We read with great interest the article by Bravi et al., 1 who reported results of one of the largest case-control investigations on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) aimed at investigating the role of diet in determining the risk of RCC in Italy. Interestingly, the authors observed a direct association of RCC risk for cereals, mainly bread, explaining that, as for other common cancers, the increased risk of RCC for elevated cereals intake may be due to the high glycemic index of these foods, and their possible involvement in insulin-like growth factors. The association of RCC with cereals is certainly a warning but is also very intriguing. Indeed, cereals grains and related by-products have a unique importance as they are consumed by millions of people and are the primary source of carbohydrates for humans. We do not want to be critical about the article by Bravi et al. 1 However, we believe that, as for other diet-related tumours, mycotoxins should be considered as a dietary co-factor in determining RCC for the reasons that we propose in the present comment.
Mycotoxins are a very vast family of fungal moulds' secondary metabolites that occur in almost the totality of foods. 2 They are highly undesired substances that should not be present in food and for which a zero tolerance should be adopted. However, so far, it has been impossible to achieve a truly mycotoxin-free food chain, because even good agricultural, storing and processing practices cannot completely avoid contamination. 2 The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that about 25% of the world's food crops are affected by mycotoxins. 2 Cereals are an optimal substrate for colonisation by phytopathogenic moulds as they provide excellent growth conditions for fungi in the field, after harvest and during storage. 2 Two mycotoxins frequently occurring on cereals in mild climates and proved to be renal carcinogen in experimental animals are ochratoxin A (OTA) and fumonisins (i.e. FB 1 and FB 2 ). The carcinogenic potential of OTA and FB 1 is firmly established on experimental animals, but the International Agency for the Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified them as Group 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans), due to the lack of epidemiological studies on humans. 3 OTA can enter the human food chain by almost the totality of foods, i.e. cereals, wine, coffee, spices, beer, cocoa, dried fruits and pork meats. Cereals are the major contributors to human exposure to OTA, accounting for 50% of the mean European dietary intake and over 70% in France. 2 OTA has been