Impact of mold toxicity on gut health
You’ve probably come across them at some point – molds. They are irritating, cringing, and the last things you want around you. You may have seen them on spoiled food or on the walls of houses, especially during winter. But here’s one thing you probably didn’t know about them.
Mold can cause a lot of health-related issues when people come in contact with it. Mold contact often results in gut health-related challenges.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with compromised immune systems, lung infections, or asthma may have severe reactions to mold. This same report stated that mold can lead to several symptoms in people sensitive to it. Before we take a look at these symptoms, let’s quickly examine the major concepts that make up this article.
What is Mold Toxicity?
Mold toxicity is the ability of mold to harm the human body. It also refers to the potentially harmful effects of mold and its mycotoxins on the human body (mold health).
Over the years, researchers and health practitioners have argued whether molds are harmful to human health or not. This is because research findings show that many mold species on Earth don’t pose a marked health threat to humans. However, species like black mold are believed to be dangerous because they produce mycotoxins that can harm people who get in contact with them over an extended period.
The level of mold toxicity in an individual depends on a number of factors, including:
1. The health of your immune system
If your immune system is weak, it means that you don’t have enough antibodies to protect your body cells and tissues from the adverse actions of these mycotoxins. Their effect on you will be more pronounced compared to the effect if you had a stronger immune system.
2. Type of mold you’re exposed to
Truth is, there’s an entire ‘spectrum’ of mold in existence today. As a matter of fact, there are well over 1000 known species of mold. Each of these species has its characteristics, life cycles, and effects on the human body. However, a good number of them aren’t exactly dangerous to human health. The most common and dangerous type of mold is black mold.
3. Length of exposure
You’ve heard it before, “too much of everything is bad”. It’s especially true when it comes to mold exposure. The longer your time of exposure to mold spores and their mycotoxins, the higher your chances of being affected. So, if you find mold around you, do your best to get rid of them immediately, regardless of the species.
Now that we’ve looked at mold toxicity and the predisposing factors, here’s how mold toxicity can affect your gut (stomach) health.
How mold toxicity can affect your gut health
Can mold toxicity affect your gut?
The simple answer is YES. Here’s how it happens.
When you’re exposed to mold, you come in contact with their mycotoxins as well. These mycotoxins are what get into your body system (either by inhalation or consumption of contaminated food). Once inside the body, they begin to cause adverse reactions where they can.
Not all mycotoxins and molds precipitate health complications. However, the most common ones that can affect your gut health include Trichothecene, Aflatoxins, and some other mycotoxins from mold and other fungi.
When you come in contact with mycotoxins and mold spores from these classes of mold, they can affect your gut health in the following ways:
1. They can cause your gut to start leaking
Your intestine walls are packed full of epithelial cells that serve as a line of defense against bacteria, toxins, and foreign bodies. These epithelial cells prevent foreign and harmful bodies from finding their way into your bloodstream. They also help make sure that whatever gets into your intestines remains there. This is why food can pass through your intestines without seeping out and into your stomach.
When trichothecenes get into your gut, they attack these epithelial cells and weaken the bond that holds them together. As the bond continues to weaken, the epithelial cells lose their protective ability.
What does this mean? Bad news!
Just about anything can find its way into your bloodstream and the food that should pass through your intestines could start seeping into your stomach and other parts of the body.
This condition often requires emergency surgical procedures.
2. You may start losing weight drastically
Molds can attack your intestinal villi. Intestinal villi are finger-like structures in the gut that help in the quick breakdown of food and hitch-free absorption of nutrients. When intestinal villi become unhealthy, food absorption and breakdown are affected.
What does this mean?
You may find yourself dealing with constipation more often. Although you’re eating well, you keep losing weight because your body can’t absorb food properly. There are many other associated symptoms with this condition.
3. They eliminate the healthy gut microbiota while increasing the harmful ones
There is some microbiota, which lives in your gut, that help maintain your healthy state. They not only play a major role in helping you remain healthy, but also assist in food breakdown and absorption, and in keeping harmful substances away from your gut.
When harmful mold spores get into your gut, they attack and deplete the normal microbiota and replace them with harmful ones. As a result, the rate of absorption reduces and your gut becomes open to attack from foreign bodies.
In addition, harmful mold spores encourage the multiplication of pathogenic bacteria in the gut. These bacteria can have adverse effects on your gut, leading to health complications like ulcers.
4. Harmful mold increases your chances of getting other gut complications
This is an offshoot of the last point. With the depletion of the normal microbiota that helps keep your stomach healthy, anything can find its way into your gut and cause stomach diseases. Once your gut immunity is compromised, there’s every possibility that other gut diseases would follow.
Treatment and elimination of mold from your gut include a number of safe practices, including:
- Scheduling a meeting with your doctor when you begin to notice the symptoms of mold toxicity.
- The use of specific and prescribed essential oils, antioxidants, and antifungals.
When in doubt, see a doctor!!!
