True or False: Mycotoxins in Coffee Are a Serious Threat to Our Health and the Only Way to Avoid Them is Abstinence

As we are about to see coffee is by far not the worst aflotoxin offender in the human diet. Still, that does not mean that the coffee related exposure to this form of mold that can befall all sorts of grains, nuts and seeds is harmless.

You will probably remember that I casually touched on the possibility of being exposed to aflotoxins and more importantly ochratoxins as a result of the consumption of mold-infected coffee in previous coffee articles. When the issue of the « coffee ➲ aflotoxin / ochratoxin exposure ➲ serious health » triage resurfaced in a brief facebook conversation, recently, I realized that I was not 100% sure if these mycotoxins that are produced by Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus niger, and Aspergillus carbonarius do or don't pose a serious health risk.

Well, you know how much I hate unanswered questions, so I kept digging until I'd found what I consider to be a half-way satisfying answer to this life-or-death question ;-)

You can learn more about coffee at the SuppVersity

Remember: With Coffee More Won't Help More

Coffee - The Good, Bad & Interesting

Three Cups of Coffee Keep Insulin At Bay

Caffeine's Effect on Testosterone, Estrogen & SHBG

Coffee + Cacao for Breast Cancer Prevention

"Decaf" Won't Help With Weight, ... Ahh, Fat Loss

"The amount of aflotoxin in the average cup of coffee is a serious threat to our health!"

In 90% of the cases the above statement is FALSE! Despite the fact that it is difficult to tell how much mycotoxins you've been flushing down with your morning coffee today, the exact amount of the more common aflotoxins and their similarly kidney-toxic, pro-carcinogenic and coffee-loving cousins, the ochratoxin, in the average cup of (roasted) coffee is probably way too low to be worried about.

Figure 1: Mycotoxin exposure from coffee; calculated based on data from Europe (Vd Stegen. 1997)

Based on the studies I have reviewed for this article, it appears almost certain to say that the relatively low amount of coffee beans per cup (4-8g) reduces your average mycotoxin exposure from 1-4 cups of coffee per day to levels that are almost certainly within one of the various (multi-)national reference ranges (Van Egmond. 2007):

• Europe: 5µg/kg
• Africa: 10µg/kg

• North America: 20µg/kg

• Asia: 15µg/kg
• Latin America: 20µg/kg

Using a selection of commercially available regular and soluble coffee brands, van der Stegen et al. have actually calculated the average daily mycotoxin intake of Europeans with an average coffee consumption of 1-4  to be in the nanogram range - 19ng and 10ng, specifically, for regular and instant coffee drinkers, respectively.

Please remember: We don't know if / what happens or doesn't happen if you stay within or break the arbitrary intake limits. If you take a look at the available evidence from rodent studies, the results Epstein et al. presented in their 1969 paper (see Table 1) later in this article, would suggest that a sensible intake limit would have to be below the 1µg range if we assume a similar toxicity for the average mycotoxin mixture as for the aflotoxin B Epstein et al. used. This assumption is obviously not realistic, but it should remind you of the arbitrariness of the "intake limits".

Just to make sure, we understand each other, here: That's 1000x less than you'd get from only 20g of some of the Brazilian peanuts Freitas and Brigido analyzed in a 1998 study for their mean and maximal mycotoxin content. With 1099µg/kg the worst offenders in this study would easily have you breach the already lax American (North & Latin America) max. tolerable intake limit of 20µg/kg per day - and that despite the fact that this limit is more than 1000x higher than the amount of mycotoxins you'll have in your average cup of coffee.

Green vs. roasted coffee: Do we have to chose between anti-oxidants and mycotoxins?

It goes without saying that the mere fact that the dangers of being exposed to high amounts of mycotoxins from adequately processed and stored coffee appears negligible, does not warrant ignoring the problem completely. The effects of processing and storage are and will thus always be an important issue.

Given the fact that humid and cool (but not cold) is what mold needs to thrive, you will probably already have suspected that the hot and arid environment of a coffee roastery is not exactly the favorite growth environment for the Aspergillus family.

Figure 2: Ochratoxin content (µg/kg) in green, roasted & soluble coffee, left; total antioxidant activity in TROLOX essay of green (=unroasted), lightly, medium and dark roast coffee (Blanc. 1998; del Castillo. 2002)

A lower mycotoxin content is yet not the only beneficial effect of roasting. Contrary to what 99% of the people will tell you, when you ask them, the roasting process increases not decreases the total antioxidant capacity of coffee (TAC).

What does the latest review say about regular coffee consumption and cancer? "The epidemiological evidence consis-tently indicates that coffee protects against liver cancer, and also point toward protective effects for risk of colorectal cancers (with relative risks of 0.50 (95% CI: 0.42–0.59) and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.75–0.92), respectively, in the most recent meta-analyses)" (Bøhn. 2013). The evidence for protective effects against breast and prostate cancer on the other hand is inconclusive - irrespective of the established chemo-preventive effects of coffee phytochemicals Bøhn et al. list in their soon to be published paper in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research early in 2014.

Due to the formation of a whole host of new antioxidant molecules during the roasting process, light or mildly roasted coffee beans have a higher total antioxidant capacity than green ones - irrespective of the reduced chlorogenic acid content, for which the green beans are currently (over-)hyped. If you look at the data in Figure 2 you will see that even the heavily roasted, tar-black coffee beans still have a minimally higher anti-oxidant activity than the "natural" green coffee beans (del Castillo. 2002) - an observation that has been made both in the Petri dish, as well as ex vivo rodent studies (Daglia. 2002).

You've been drinking tons green coffee, lately?

Don't worry! Your past green coffee consumption probably isn't a real problem either. It does after all look as if those beans were yet another example for the infamous "nature kows best" principle. I mean, can it really be "coincidence" that the beans come with "anti-mycotoxin agents" in form of cafestol and kahweol. These coffee-specific diterpenes have been shown to ameliorate the aflotoxin B induced genotoxicity (Cavin. 1998) and the subsequent pro-carcinogenic effects (Cavin. 2001) and can be expected to exert protective effects against ochratoxin toxicity, as well.

In view of the fact that similar evidence exists for chlorogenic acids (CGA), dodecyl chlorogenates (DCGA) and a high(er) coffee consumption, in general (Suárez‐Quiroz. 2013; Ferk. 2013), it is actually not surprising that studies like Shank et al. (1972)  or Bulatoa-Jaym et al. (1982) found links between aflotoxin contaminated corn, grains, potato, peanuts & co., but could not identify an increased risk in liver cancer for coffee aficionados. Consequently, it's (imho) relatively unlikely that your health has already taken a beating - irrespective of the amount of the number of cups of green coffee you've been consuming over the past weeks.

Coffee is not the worst mycotoxin offender in the human diet: In a case-control dietary study of primary liver cancer in humans Bulatoa-Jaym et al. found that 51.2% of their subjects daily aflotoxin exposure came from cassava, 20.3% from corn, 6.8% frompeanuts and 5.8% from sweet potato (Bulatao-Jaim. 1982). On the other hand, many scientists argue that the ochratoxin content of coffee is the real danger, anyway (Bayman. 2006)

I would still like to remind you that even the sum of the previous remarks must not be misunderstood as an incentive to willy nilly forget all previously harbored concerns about "moldy coffee beans"... and I say this in spite of the existing epidemiological evidence that a high coffee consumption decreases the risk of developing and dying from liver cancer (Kurozawa. 2005; El–Serag. 2007). The liver is after all not the only organ that may be affected by the pro-carcinogenic toxins. The kidneys are at least as susceptible to the toxic assault from the mycotoxin filtrate that passes through them.

The liver is not the only organ that's taking a beating

It may thus be hypothetical, but not impossible that a 2x / 2.6x increased risk to develop renal cell carcinoma Mimi et al. report in a 1986 paper on the associations between coffee consumption and kidney cancer may at least be partially related to the higher mycotoxin exposure in those 61 study participants who consumed 1-4 cups of coffee per day (Mimi. 1986).

That mycotoxins can promote the development of kindey cancer had been demonstrated 17 years before the publication of Mimi's paper by Epstein, Bartus & Farber (1969) whose Wistar rats developed renal epithelial neoplasms after being exposed to food-borne aflatoxin B1.

Table 1: Incidence of renal epithelial and malignant hepatic tumors in male Wistar rats ingesting aflatoxin B1 for 147 days; the indces a, b, c provide irrelevant (in this context) extra information (Epstein. 1969)

In that, it's quite remarkable that even the lowest aflotoxin dosage the researchers used in their study (0.25µg/kg chow; HED  ~1.2ng/kg body weight, ; see Table 1) lead to significant rates of cancerous growth in both kidney (28%, if we count both developing and full-blown renal neoplasms) and liver  within the 21 week study period.

There is just one no-go: Storing unroasted beans for years in your humid basement

In view of the large regional difference in aflotoxin infection rates, the different susceptibility of the various coffee cultivars and the influences of weather, storage conditions, blending, processing, and all the other factors that increase or decrease the amount of mold and mycotoxins on coffee (see Figure 3), I would still be hesitant to exclude the possibility that stocking up on highly aflotoxin contaminated unroasted coffee you possibly even stock in a very humid basement of yours to consume the coffee over the course of months if not years could have negative effects on the health of your organs, in general, and the function of your kidney and liver, in particular.

Figure 3: Percent infection of coffee cherries and beans byAspergillusspecies potentially capable of producing ochratoxin A in four Brazilian coffee growing regions from the 1999 and 2000 harvests (Taniwaki. 2003)

I mean, look at the data in Figure 3. It's probably no coincidence that the otherwise virtually uninfected beans of coffee from the 1999 and 2000 harvests in the Cerrado Miniero exhibits a 4% infection rate after being stored intermediately before it is either roasted, shredded or both or simply forwarded "raw" to the mailbox of an "unroasted coffee enthusiast". Similar effects can be expected when the huge coffee manufacturers mix harvests from various regions. If only one is infected, all it takes to have Aspergillus flavus literally "all over the place" is enough time in one of the huge storage silos or the hold of one of the container ships that transport coffee from the "New" back into the "Old World".

Figure 4: The amino acid make up of coffee changes upon roasting (data from Cirilo. 2003).

Life kills, anyway! Let's be honest. In the end, living is a pretty deadly undertaking, anyway. Against that background the uncertainty with respect to the tolerable intake of mycotoxins should not bother you so much to ignore the existing evidence of the beneficial effects of regular coffee consumption (see "Coffee - The Good, the Bad & The Interesting" | read more).

One thing you may keep in mind, though, is that this evidence is based on data from average coffee drinkers, people who drink coffee that's made of roasted beans. Beans that are virtually mycotoxin-free (see Figure 2, left) and have a higher, not lower antioxidant capacity than green coffee beans.

What roasted beans lack, though, are chlorogenic acid and trace amounts of amino acids (see Figure 4), including serotonin. If you are looking for one of these molecules specifically, you are yet probably better of with a hopefully aflotoxin and mycotoxin free green coffee extract and a bottle of pills with the serotonin precursor 5-HTP, anyways.

References:

• Bayman, P., & Baker, J. L. (2006). Ochratoxins: a global perspective. Mycopathologia, 162(3), 215-223. 
• Blanc, M., Pittet, A., Muñoz-Box, R., & Viani, R. (1998). Behavior of ochratoxin A during green coffee roasting and soluble coffee manufacture. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 46(2), 673-675.
• Bøhn et al. (2013) Coffee and cancer risk, epidemiological evidence, and molecular mechanisms. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research [early view article]
• Bulatoa-Jaym J, et al. (1982). A Case-Control Dietary Study of Primary Liver Cancer Risk from Aflatoxin Exposure*. International journal of epidemiology, 11(2), 112-119.
• Cavin, C., Holzhäuser, D., Constable, A., Huggett, A. C., & Schilter, B. (1998). The coffee-specific diterpenes cafestol and kahweol protect against aflatoxin B1-induced genotoxicity through a dual mechanism. Carcinogenesis, 19(8), 1369-1375.
• Cavin, C., Mace, K., Offord, E. A., & Schilter, B. (2001). Protective effects of coffee diterpenes against aflatoxin B< sub> 1</sub>-induced genotoxicity: mechanisms in rat and human cells. Food and Chemical toxicology, 39(6), 549-556.
• del Castillo, M. D., Ames, J. M., & Gordon, M. H. (2002). Effect of roasting on the antioxidant activity of coffee brews. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 50(13), 3698-3703. 
• Cirilo, M. P., Coelho, A. F. S., Araújo, C. M., Gonçalves, F. R., Nogueira, F. D., & Glória, M. B. A. (2003). Profile and levels of bioactive amines in green and roasted coffee. Food Chemistry, 82(3), 397-402.
• Daglia, M., Papetti, A., Gregotti, C., Bertè, F., & Gazzani, G. (2000). In vitro antioxidant and ex vivo protective activities of green and roasted coffee. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 48(5), 1449-1454.
• Epstein, S. M., Bartus, B., & Farber, E. (1969). Renal epithelial neoplasms induced in male Wistar rats by oral aflatoxin B1. Cancer Research, 29(5), 1045-1050.
• El–Serag, H. B., & Rudolph, K. L. (2007). Hepatocellular carcinoma: epidemiology and molecular carcinogenesis. Gastroenterology, 132(7), 2557-2576. 
• Ferk, F., Huber, W. W., Grasl‐Kraupp, B., Speer, K., Buchmann, S., Bohacek, R., ... & Knasmüller, S. (2013). Protective effects of coffee against induction of DNA damage and pre‐neoplastic foci by aflatoxin B1. Molecular nutrition & food research. 
• Freitas, V. P., & Brigido, B. M. (1998). Occurrence of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 in peanuts and their products marketed in the region of Campinas, Brazil in 1995 and 1996. Food Additives & Contaminants, 15(7), 807-811.
• Kurozawa, Y., Ogimoto, I., Shibata, A., Nose, T., Yoshimura, T., Suzuki, H., ... & Tamakoshi, A. (2005). Coffee and risk of death from hepatocellular carcinoma in a large cohort study in Japan. British journal of cancer, 93(5), 607-610. 
• Mimi, C. Y., Mack, T. M., Hanisch, R., Cicioni, C., & Henderson, B. E. (1986). Cigarette smoking, obesity, diuretic use, and coffee consumption as risk factors for renal cell carcinoma. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 77(2), 351-356.
• Shank, R. C., Wogan, G. N., & Gibson, J. B. (1972). Dietary aflatoxins and human liver cancer. I. Toxigenic moulds in foods and foodstuffs of tropical South-East Asia. Food and Cosmetics Toxicology, 10(1), 51-60.
• Taniwaki, M. H., Pitt, J. I., Teixeira, A. A., & Iamanaka, B. T. (2003). The source of ochratoxin A in Brazilian coffee and its formation in relation to processing methods. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 82(2), 173-179. 
• Van Egmond, H. P., Schothorst, R. C., & Jonker, M. A. (2007). Regulations relating to mycotoxins in food. Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, 389(1), 147-157. 
• Vd Stegen, G., Jörissen, U., Pittet, A., Saccon, M., Steiner, W., Vincenzi, M., ... & Schlatter, C. (1997). Screening of European coffee final products for occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA). Food Additives & Contaminants, 14(3), 211-216. 
• Yamato, T., Yamasaki, S., Misumi, Y., Kino, M., Obata, T., & Aomine, M. (2002). Modulation of the stress response by coffee: an in vivo microdialysis study of hippocampal serotonin and dopamine levels in rat. Neuroscience letters, 332(2), 87-90.

Androgen Threesome: BPA Exposure & Free Testosterone in Men. TRT Good For the Prostate. DHT, Allopecia (Hair Loss) & Monascus Fermentation. Plus: Mycotoxins in GCB Supps

Coffee and green coffee bean extracts are by no means the only way by which you are exposed to mycotoxins. Corn, for example, is likewise a favorite for the toxic mold. The same goes for almost all other grains. Common routes of exposure are, amongst others cereals, breads, wines, and even mils and meats (of swine ad turkey, not chicken; Duarte. 2010)

36%, 32%, 10%, and 16% these are the SuppVersity Figures of the week and the percentages of green coffee bean supplements (remember the chlorogenic acid news in Thursday's installment of the Science Round-Up) that were contaminated with Ochratoxin A, ochratoxin B, fumonisin B1 and mycophenolic acid, respectively.

"Mycotoxins occurred in the following concentration ranges: ochratoxin A: 2.7–136.9 µg/kg, ochratoxin B: 3.5–20.2 µg/kg, fumonisin B1: 110.0–415.0 µg/kg, mycophenolic acid: 43.1–395.0 µg/kg." (Vaclavi. 2013)

These poisonous substances are produced by fungi that form during (inproper) storage and are suspected to inhibit protein synthesis, damage macrophage systems, inhibit particle clearance of the lung, and increase sensitivity to bacterial endotoxins... ah, I almost forgot ochratoxins also wreak havoc on your hormones (Frizzell. 2013).

So far for the bad news, now the good one: According to the researchers calculations even with most contaminated of the 50 products they the average consumer who adheres to the suggested dosing protocol will still be well within the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 120 ng/kg body weight per week and tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 2000 ng/kg body weight per day for ochratoxin A and fumonisin B₁, respectively (these values were estimated by the EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) - corresponding values of the "well-meaning" FDA or any other US government agencies are - as usual - not available).

Let's get to our androgen threesome

• 

  SuppVersity readers know: Tea is not only good for your prostate (learn more), it can also help you lose weight (read more)

  Testosterone replacement improves prostate issues (Ko. 2013) -- Contrary to what common "wisdom" will tell you scientists from the Yeungnam University College of Medicine in Korea can tell you that the 17 out of  46 patients who suffered from lower urinary tract symptom before they underwent TRT using intramuscular injection of 3 months bases injection of testosterone 1,000 mg undecanoate over a year achieved significant improvements (decrements) on the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS).
  
  Needless to say that "[d]uring the median follow up of 15.1 months, no patients experienced urinary retention, BPH-related surgery, or admission for urinary tract infection".

• BPA and low testosterone, you better know what to look at (Zhou. 2013) -- Talking about testosterone, there is finally some relatively reliable human data on the effects of BPA exposure on the hormone levels in men.

  

  Figure 1: Relative difference in free androgen index (FAI), androstenedione (AD), free testosterone (FT), SHBG, inhibin (INB), prolactin (PRL), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), estrogen (E2) an total testosterone (T);  comparing the men with to the men without workplace exposure in the Zhou study

  As you can see in figure 1 the effects would go unnoticed, if you do not test for free hormones, but just checked the amount of total testosterone. How you can recognize that from the data? Well, the figures above the bars are the p-values. All that are >0.5 would suggest that this effect is statistically non-significant, so that every study not looking at things like the free androgen index (FAI) or the free testosterone levels (FT) will miss the 15% and 10% reduced levels of the latter and conclude: That it does not make a difference, if your serum contains 3.198 or 0.276mg/L as it was the case in the exposed and non-exposed subjects in this study from the Shanxi Medical University, because BPA won't harm you anyway.

• The fermented solution to all problems androgen?  (Chiu. 2013) Monascus bacteria that is used to ferment red mold rice, a traditional spice that is consumed throughout Asia could prevent androgenetic alopecia, benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate cancer.

  

  Figure 2: Changes in testosterone an DHT mice on TRT (control) w/w-out 0.2 & 0.5% Monascus extract in chow, corresponding images of the stained slices from the prostate and hair loss compared to standard treatment with finasteride (Chiu. 2013)

  The results of a recent study from the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the National Cheng Kung University Medical College clearly suggest that the way in which a monascus extract suppressed baldness in male B6CBAF1/j mice 

  

  Learn how to modulate DHT/T naturally.

  • decreased PSA levels  
  • decreased tumor volume and
  • decreased prostate cancer incidence, 
  • decreased dihydrotestosterone (DHT),
  • but left testosterone unchanged
  The effect was dose-dependent and was observed with 0.5-3% of the extract in the rodent diets. While it is not unlikely that the results will translate into human studies, it should be obvious that at least for the >0.5% doses, supplementation will be necessary.
  
  Irrespective of these latest study results, previous research indicates that Monascus-fermented products have many functional secondary metabolites, including monacolin K, citrinin, ankaflavin, and monascin and these have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, cholesterol-lowering effect, and antitumor activities. Probably all of you will be familiar with at least one of them: Red Yeast Rice, the natural statin. And if you are not into spices or extracts, there are also other foods and even wines that are fermented with Monascus.

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That's it for today: I know ladies, with today's focus on the male hormones, I owe you (big time?). But don't worry, there are also a couple of Facebook News, you may be interested in

• 

  Suggested read: "Carbohydrate Shortage in Paleo Land" (read more)

  "Oldie but goldie: T3, rt3 and carbohydrate intake in hyper- and eucaloric scenarios - Something worth considering for those constantly battling low T3 an high rT3 levels (read more)
• Omnipresence of "healthy" Subway sandwiches correlates w/ obesity rates - "Countries with the highest density of Subway restaurants such as the USA (7.52 per 100,000) and Canada (7.43 per 100,000) also tend to have a higher prevalence of obesity in both men (31.3% and 23.2%, respectively) and women (33.2% and 22.9%, respectively)." (read more)
• Understanding the neurological side effects of statin drugs - US scientists observed unusual swellings within neurons, which the team has termed the "beads-on-a-string" effect (read more)
• DHEA supplementation at 25gm/day to restore female fertility - A recent study from Turkey would suggest that this could actually work (read more)

If that's still not enough, come back tomorrow for another serving of the latest news from the realms of exercise, nutrition and health sciences, here at the SuppVersity! In the mean time, enjoy your weekend, everone!

References:

• Chiu HW, Chen MH, Fang WH, Hung CM, Chen YL, Wu MD, Yuan GF, Wu MJ, Wang YJ. Preventive effects of monascus on androgen-related diseases: androgenetic alopecia, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and prostate cancer. J Agric Food Chem. 2013 May 8;61(18):4379-86.  
• Duarte SC, Pena A, Lino CM. Ochratoxin a in Portugal: a review to assess human exposure. Toxins (Basel). 2010 Jun;2(6):1225-49. doi: 10.3390/toxins2061225. Epub 2010 Jun 1. Review. 
• Frizzell C, Verhaegen S, Ropstad E, Elliott CT, Connolly L. Endocrine disrupting effects of ochratoxin A at the level of nuclear receptor activation and steroidogenesis. Toxicol Lett. 2013 Mar 13;217(3):243-50.  
• Ko YH, Moon du G, Moon KH. Testosterone replacement alone for testosterone deficiency syndrome improves moderate lower urinary tract symptoms: one year follow-up. World J Mens Health. 2013 Apr;31(1):47-52.
• Vaclavik L, Vaclavikova M, Begley TH, Krynitsky AJ, Rader JI. Determination of Multiple Mycotoxins in Dietary Supplements Containing Green Coffee Bean Extracts Using Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. May 2013 [ahead of print].
• Zhou Q, Miao M, Ran M, Ding L, Bai L, Wu T, Yuan W, Gao E, Wang J, Li G, Li DK. Serum bisphenol-A concentration and sex hormone levels in men. Fertil Steril. 2013 May 4.