Enniatins (ENNs) and beauvericin (BEA) are emerging Fusarium mycotoxins frequently detected in cereals and processed foods, raising concerns about their toxic potential. These cyclic hexadepsipeptides exert cytotoxic effects by disrupting ionic homeostasis and accumulating in lipid membranes. Although ENNs and BEA modulate pathways such as NF-κB and MAPK, their direct immunomodulatory effects remain poorly characterized. This...

The health benefits of soy and soy derived foods are often attributed to their isoflavone (ISFs) content, known to include phytoestrogens. However, EFSA has concluded that there is insufficient scientific evidence to establish a causal relationship between ISFs consumption and the proposed health claims. Although phase-II metabolites of ISFs are often considered as detoxified products with reduced estrogenic effects, recent st...

The foodborne mycotoxins alternariol (AOH) and alternariol monomethyl ether (AME) have been associated with several adverse effects, including cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, endocrine disruption, and immunomodulation. As these endpoints are typically observed in vitro at micromolar concentrations, the question arises whether such levels are attainable in exposed humans. To address this data gap in chemical risk assessment, a phys...

Humans and animals are frequently exposed to dietary compounds that can adversely affect intestinal health. The Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is known to compromise epithelial barrier integrity. DON frequently co-occurs in food and feed with the mycoestrogen zearalenone (ZEN) and soy-derived isoflavones (ISFs) such as genistein (GEN) and daidzein. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of ZEN (10 nM), its met...

Enniatins (ENNs) and beauvericin (BEA) are cyclic hexadepsipeptide fungal metabolites which have demonstrated antibiotic, antimycotic, and insecticidal activities. The substantial toxic potentials of these mycotoxins are associated with their ionophoric molecular properties and relatively high lipophilicities. ENNs occur extensively in grain and grain-derived products and are considered a food safety issue by the European Food...

Alternaria mycotoxins may pose significant challenges to food safety and public health due to the wide spectrum of reported adverse effects. Despite this, critical information on the immunomodulatory and antiestrogenic properties of most of these contaminants is still lacking. The present study aimed to identify the mycotoxins responsible for the immunosuppressive and antiestrogenic effects of a complex extract of Alternaria m...

Natural toxins produced by Alternaria fungi include the mycotoxins alternariol, tenuazonic acid and altertoxins I and II. Several of these toxins have shown high toxicity even at low levels including genotoxic, mutagenic, and estrogenic effects. However, the metabolic effects of toxin exposure from Alternaria are understudied, especially in the liver as a key target. To gain insight into the impact of Alternaria toxin exposure...

Since 2006, the responsible regulatory bodies have proposed five health-based guidance values (HBGV) for bisphenol A (BPA) that differ by a factor of 250,000. This range of HBGVs covers a considerable part of the range from highly toxic to relatively non-toxic substances. As such heterogeneity of regulatory opinions is a challenge not only for scientific risk assessment but also for all stakeholders, the Senate Commission on F...