Humans are continuously exposed to furan, a hepatotoxic and carcinogenic process-related food contaminant. Considerable uncertainties associated with current exposure estimates based on the content of furan in food underscore the need to explore biomarker monitoring as an alternative or complementary approach to furan exposure assessment. Previous work in rats demonstrated a linear correlation between furan dose and several ur...

Humans are chronically exposed to furan, a potent liver toxicant and carcinogen that occurs in a variety of heat-processed foods. Assessment of human exposure based on the furan content in foods is, however, subject to some uncertainty due to the high volatility of furan. Biomarker monitoring is thus considered an alternative or complementary approach to furan exposure assessment. Previous work suggested that urinary furan met...

The “totality” of the human exposure is conceived to encompass life-associated endogenous and exogenous aggregate exposures. Process-related contaminants (PRCs) are not only formed in foods by heat processing, but also occur endogenously in the organism as physiological components of energy metabolism, potentially also generated by the human microbiome. To arrive at a comprehensive risk assessment, it is necessary to understan...