1. Academic Validation
  2. Toxicity Studies of Ethyl Maltol and Iron Complexes in Mice

Toxicity Studies of Ethyl Maltol and Iron Complexes in Mice

  • Biomed Res Int. 2017;2017:2640619. doi: 10.1155/2017/2640619.
Zhen Li 1 Jieli Lu 1 Chonghui Wu 1 Quanhai Pang 1 Zhiwei Zhu 2 Ruipeng Nan 1 Ruochen Du 2 Jia Chen 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi 030801, China.
  • 2 College of Life Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi 030801, China.
  • 3 Institute of Farm Product Storage and Fresh-Keeping, Shanxi Academy of Agriculture Science, Taiyuan 030031, China.
Abstract

Ethyl maltol and iron complexes are products of ethyl maltol and the iron found in the cooking pots used to prepare the Chinese dish, hot-pot. Because their safety is undocumented, the toxicity study of ethyl maltol and iron complexes was conducted in male and female Kunming (KM) mice. The animal study was designed based on the preliminary study conducted to determine the median lethal dose (LD50). The doses used in the study were 0, 1/81, 1/27, 1/9, and 1/3 of the LD50 (mg kg body weight (BW)-1 day-1) dissolved in the water. The oral LD50 of the ethyl maltol and iron complexes was determined to be 743.88 mg kg BW-1 in mice. The ethyl maltol and iron complexes targeted the endocrine organs including the liver and kidneys following the 90 D oral exposure. Based on the haematological data, the lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (LOAEL) of the ethyl maltol and iron complexes was determined to be 1/81 LD50 (9.18 mg kg BW-1 day-1) in both male and female mice. Therefore, we suggest that alternative strategies for preparing the hot-pot, including the use of non-Fe-based cookware, need to be developed and encouraged to avoid the formation of the potentially toxic complexes.

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