Influence of different coffee drinks preparations on ochratoxin A content and evaluation of the antioxidant activity and caffeine variations.
Coffee is one of the most frequently consumed beverages in North America and Europe. It is well known that coffee contains caffeine and that coffee beans can be contaminated by Ochratoxin A (OTA). The operating conditions however affect OTA and caffeine extraction from the roasted coffee. OTA content found in the beverages can be greater than that found in the roasted coffee used to prepare it, representing a potential OTA related risk factor for the human health. Moreover the coffee beans and coffee based beverages have an anti oxidant activity. This study investigates the OTA content, the amount of caffeine, and the antioxidant activity in five different preparations: American coffee, Mok…
Comparison and improvement of the existing methods for the determination of aflatoxins in human serum by LC-MS/MS
Aflatoxins are toxic metabolites of some Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus and A. nomius strains that occur in many foods and feeds. Aflatoxin B1 is the most abundant and toxic member of the family, and it is also the most potent hepatocarcinogen known. In order to estimate the potential human health risk of aflatoxin B1, it is useful to measure its blood concentration. In this work a rapid liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 and its metabolites, aflatoxins M1 and M2 in human serum, is proposed. Small serum volumes have been used and the extracts have been obtained without any clean-up proce…