摘要：Locally prepared nutritional food for infants and children in Ghana are made from beans, groundnuts and maize prepared by mothers during weaning in the Ejura-Sekyedumase district of Ghana. Groundnuts, maize and beans are prone to aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin is produced by the Asperguillus fungi, which occur in tropical areas worldwide (including Ghana) due to favorable climate for their growth. The objective of the study was to determine the levels of urinary aflatoxin exposure in children fed with locally prepared nutritional food in Ghana.Thirty six locally prepared nutritional food samples (100g each) were collected from households that were actively feeding infants with the nutritional food from three different communities in the district. In addition urine samples at baseline (day 0) and day 21 were also collected. Aflatoxins were measured in the food using a fluorometric procedure described by the Association of Official Analytical Chemist (AOAC AOAC official method 993.31).) V1 series 4. Aflatoxin metabolite (AFM1) were measeured at day 0 and day 21 by HPLC flouresecnt dectection. Urine creatinine concentrations were measured by (Flexor E, end point automation from Vital Scientific, Netherlands) and used to standardize each sample for variations in urine dilution among samples. Aflatoxin was detected in all 36 locally prepared nutritional food samples (Aflatoxin levels range: 7.9-500ppb). Thirty (83.3%) of the samples were over the limit of 20ppb for aflatoxin with an overall mean of 145.2ng/g. Urinary AFM1 was detected in 28 urine samples in a range of 24.7-8368.9pg/mg creatinine. The results indicate that there were significant aflatoxin contaminations in the locally prepared food and exposure in children from all three Communities. From this study, children fed on this nutritional food were exposed to unacceptable levels of aflatoxin which could affect child development. Education on aflatoxin exposure and the risk to infant development needs to be addressed especially to mothers
关键词：Urinary;Aflatoxin;Nutritional ;Metabolites and Ghana
