Efficacy of toxibond use in swine diets in the growing stage, as a toxin adsorbent in the presence of aflatoxin b1 (ab1) + ochratoxin

As I know Toxibond is 100[percent] Aluminum Silicates of Sodium & Calcium, hydrated and activated thermically at 120°C. In my knowledge adsorbents as Aluminum Silicates have a good ability to adsorb aflatoxins, I agree. It binds the active chemical groups that make up the toxins through Van der Waals forces. That is clear. But how would you explain us deactivation of ochratoxin? This mycotoxin belongs to group of non-adsorbable mycotoxins and it is well known fact that adsorbents have only limited ability against this group of mycotoxins. In my opinion in this experiment it was pure effect of Toxibond against aflatoxin (5ppm) and no affect against ochratoxin which concentration in feed of pigs was anyway negligible.

Very interesting experiment I have seen the same version in Spanish in brochures. In the original document I thought there were typing errors and/or omissions and/or lack of information but I see that in English is exactly the same. Since now it is in the internet as a public document it requires a careful analysis of the trial to make sure that people reading can come to an objective decision of the information presented. Comments and questions on the very basics fundamentals of “science” and “math” of the experiment: 1) The experiment indicates that the levels of mycotoxin were 5 ppm (5000 ppb) of Aflatoxin and 50 ppb of Ochratoxin and that they were bought in Sigma laboratories. Lets do some math of cost analysis 20 pigs X 101 days X 1,79 kg feed /day [equal] 3.615 kg 2 treatments with aflatoxin [equal] 7.231 kg approximately 7.500 kg of feed To treat 7.500 kg of feed at a level of 5 ppm (5000 ppb) of aflatoxin you need 37,5 gr [equal] 37,500 mg of aflatoxin 50 mg of aflatoxin form Sigma catalog number A6636 [equal] US$732.00 Congratulations on really investing so much on research in animals. Based on the selling price of Aflatoxin by Sigma and the quantity used in the experiment you spend US$549.000,00 only buying Aflatoxin 2) If you give 5 ppm (5000 ppb) of Aflatoxin to pigs for 101 days the size of the liver should have been extremely large. There should have been a very obvious visual difference in size and weight of the liver versus the treatment with no aflatoxin. The experiment indicates that lesions were found UPON necropsy of the liver. Were there no obvious sings of size and weight of the livers to have done and statistical analysis? 3) The experiment indicates that of the 20 pigs there was only 1 dead pig after the consumption of 5 ppm (5000 ppb) of aflatoxin during 101 days? 4) The experiment comes to the conclusion that Toxibond had a “palliative” effect against Aflatoxin and Ochratoxin. In order to make that claim I presume that have you have tested first product against each mycotoxin individually and see palliative effect in the liver for aflatoxin and in the kidney for Ochratoxin. Can you indicate where we can find the experiment that proves the protection against each mycotoxin individually? 5) After going through all the effort on doing this “scientific” experiment with repetitions there is no statistical analysis in any parameter?

It is high time to use toxinbinder in swine diet especiakky in third worrld where swine are being eaisedby using hotel left over as feed

I agree with both Vladimir and Radka. It is important that only statistically analyzed and peer-reviewed data should be presented to the producers. This study has not indicated statistics for the data. Moreover, linear statistics is not suitable for this data. ANOVA with Tukeys or Duncan test should be used (these tests compare all the treatments with one another and then you can put the superscripts for statistical comparison). Also when you feed 5 ppm aflatoxin, you expect much higher adverse effects than indicated here. Why they used such a low level of ochratoxin and such a high level of aflatoxin? Scientific research has shown that clays do not work for ochratoxins. if any needs a reference, let me know. A processed synthetic clay when used at right levels offers protection only against aflatoxins.

Dr. Cruz Thank you for your comments. Effectively I went back and checked the data, and the contamination level was not 5ppm, but 5 ppb. We made the same mistake both in the spanish document, as well as in the contracted translation. We will go ahead and make the respective changes. Once again thanks a lot for helping us find a very costly mistake.

FYI I have been contacted by some people in regards to this article. I would like to clarify that I am not the G. Diaz that appears as first author of this publication. I would also like to clarify that our Laboratory (Toxicology Laboratory, National University of Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia) did not analyze any sample related to the trial described in the article. Gonzalo J. Diaz, PhD Profesor Titular Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y de Zootecnia Universidad Nacional de Colombia Bogotá, D.C., COLOMBIA