title: Combination of cassava flour cyanide and urinary thiocyanate measurements of school children in Mozambique.
abstract: The maximum daily cassava flour intake of children may be calculated from determination of the total cyanide content of cassava flour and urinary thiocyanate levels of school children in samples collected at the same time and place. Four sites, two with and two without recent konzo cases, were chosen for study. In two sites with recent konzo cases, 84% and 93% of school children consumed cassava the previous day, and the calculated maximum daily consumption of cassava was over 700 g. In two sites without recent konzo cases, about 50% of school children consumed cassava the previous day and the calculated daily consumption of cassava flour was less than 150 g. By measurements of cyanide in flour and urinary thiocyanate we are therefore able to distinguish between communities whose diet is almost totally reliant on cassava, and who are therefore susceptible to konzo, and those who have a broader diet and are free from konzo. In another calculation it is shown that 4-23% of the essential S-containing amino acids in the cassava flour consumed by children is used up to detoxify and flour cyanide to thiocyanate. This depletion of methionine and cystine may leads to protein deficiency and may contribute to onset of konzo.
authors.affiliation: Ministerio da Saude Laboratorio Nacional de Higiene de Alimentos e Aguas CP 264 Maputo, Mozambique.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paula Cardoso
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ernesto
authors.forename: Domingos
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nicala
authors.forename: Estevao
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mirione
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chavane
authors.forename: Hipolito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: N'zwalo
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chikumba
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cliff
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paulo Mabota
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rezaul Haque
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Howard Bradbury
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003486:Cyanides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005433:Flour / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008658:Inactivation, Metabolic; D002365:Manihot / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry*; D020336:Paraparesis, Spastic / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000652:urine; D011203:Poverty; D013861:Thiocyanates / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D003486:Cyanides; D013861:Thiocyanates; C031760:thiocyanate