Strategies for detoxification of Fusarium mycotoxins and assessing in vivo the relevant effectiveness

Several aspects of possible approaches to reduce Fusarium mycotoxins contamination in agricultural and food commodities have been briefly reviewed. Food processing by itself may destroy, reduce or redistribute mycotoxins. In investigating the effect of food processing, it is essential that methods of analysis must be applicable to both starting material and finished product(s). A variety of chemical, microbiological and physical methods have been investigated for intentional treatment of commodities containing the major Fusarium mycotoxins, with different levels of success. The use of non-nutritive adsorbent materials able to bind the toxin, thus reducing its bioavailability, is quite promising as a number of them reduced to some extent the negative effect of mycotoxins. However, detoxification processes that may appear effective in vitro do not necessarily retain their efficacy when tested in vivo. The importance of biomarkers of exposure (or effect) to mycotoxins is stressed as an effective tool to deal with in vivo detoxification. The elevation of the sphinganine-to-sphingosine ratio was used as a biomarker to assess the in vivo effectiveness of activated carbon and cholestyramine in binding fumonisins from contaminated diets. Cholestyramine was quite effective, both in vitro and in vivo, and is proposed as potential candidate for commercial preparations to ameliorate multi-mycotoxin effects in grains and feeds.