Reality of hidden ‘poisonous’ molds in your food. Many blame coffee, cereal and even juice for their distressing symptoms – now doctors reveal the truth

It is blamed for a range of health problems – from itchy eyes and sensitive skin to breathing difficulties and intestinal problems such as bloating or diarrhea. So do you also suffer from ‘mold poisoning’, as many influencers now claim?

These are just some of the ‘warnings’ appearing on social media that mold-containing foods – including sourdough bread, blue cheese and kimchi – can cause food allergies, intolerances or ‘toxicity symptoms’.

Influencers – ranging from holistic health coaches, nutritional therapists or simply people who now follow highly restrictive diets after self-diagnosis – claim that mold in food is the cause of a range of health problems.

In a post by Mari Llewellyn (@pursuitofwellnesspodcast) she interviews a nutritional therapist who warns about molds, not only in coffee, but also in grains, raw fish (sushi) and certain fruits and vegetables.

TikTok ‘holistic health coach’ @LeiahR says you can benefit from giving up coffee, wine, bread, peanuts and mushrooms.

Meanwhile, on TikTok, @pickyhands advises viewers to ‘stop sipping mold for fun and then wonder why you have problems in your body’ – pointing out that many drinks contain citric acid (a preservative), which mold can be extracted.

According to some influencers, the list of foods to avoid could be even more extensive.

It goes without saying that most of us would avoid eating moldy foods, but some of the foods being highlighted now are foods that naturally contain mold – which is not necessarily visible or harmful.

Influencers blame mold-containing foods for many health problems

Mold is a type of mold (e.g. yeast) and is naturally present in many foods. In fact, they are quite difficult to avoid. For example, they are naturally found in bread, kombucha, wine and beer, but also in fermented cheeses, pickles, dried fruit, coffee and mushrooms.

Molds can also be added to some foods to improve taste: for example, the Botrytis cinera fungus is used in wine making to reduce the water content of grapes and improve sweetness – and the Aspergillus niger fungus is used to produce citric acid added to many drinks, for example as a preservative.

But now influencers are suggesting that common health problems and symptoms could be due to mold poisoning from everyday food and drink. It is also suggested that some people – especially those with an established allergy to airborne mold – may also react to mold in the food they eat.

But medical experts are very skeptical.

‘Although people can develop allergy symptoms such as itchy or swollen eyes and allergic asthma from inhaling mold spores, this is not related to food, but to the environment, such as damp, poorly ventilated buildings,’ says Dr Jose Costa, an allergy consultant. at the Children’s Allergy Clinic in the West Midlands and Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Allergy at Warwick Medical School.

‘Fungi are found in so many different foods, there is no known mechanism to suggest they can cause allergic or intolerance symptoms – and there is no published evidence to suggest that cutting out these foods can improve symptoms,’ he says.

Fungi are actually part of a healthy gut microbiome – the community of insects, including bacteria and viruses, that live in our gut and are linked to many aspects of our health.

“And many of the foods we need to eat for gut health are fermented foods that contain mold, including natural yogurt, cheese and sourdough bread,” says Dr. Costa.

Wellness posts also suggest that some people – especially those with a diagnosed allergy to airborne mold – may react to mold in the food they eat

If mold were as problematic as these influencers suggest, we would see widespread problems and more patients with allergies showing up in clinics – which is not the case, he says. (He notes that some people are truly allergic to things like mushrooms, a type of fungi, but this is rare and usually only affects certain types of mushrooms.)

“If people report allergic symptoms, it is possible they are reacting to another ingredient in the food,” he suggests, such as lactose (a milk sugar) in cheese or histamine.

It could well be that it’s not mold but another food element causing a reaction, agrees Chloe Hall, a spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association and who runs the Calm Gut Dietitian (an online clinic for food intolerances).

“Anecdotally, some people with (airborne) mold allergies say they also react to foods like mushrooms or yeast-containing foods, but that’s quite rare,” she adds.

Amena Warner, head of clinical services at the charity Allergy UK, says the symptoms of mold allergy are respiratory or allergic rhinitis-type symptoms, such as wheezing and itchy swollen eyes, and are related to airborne mold spores produced in damp buildings. found, instead of with food.

‘Sometimes you get a powdery green mold on broken down food that can become airborne and cause allergy symptoms – but this is caused by the particles in the air that you breathe in, not by eating it,’ she says.

There is one possible, although very rare, type of allergic reaction to mold in food: according to the charity Anaphylaxis UK, a small number of people have been found to react to the meat substitute product Quorn, which is made from mycoprotein (a mold-derived protein). of the fungus Fusarium venenatum, a type of fungus), although this is rare (an analysis by an expert panel convened by Quorn maker Marlow Foods found that there was one case of illness for every 1.85 million servings of Quorn already more than 15 years).

Annette Weaver, Clinical Nutrition Advisor at Allergy UK, says that people with a mold allergy are at greater risk of developing an allergy to mold-related foods (mushrooms, yeast, mycoprotein, fermented foods), but this is very rare.

‘People should not assume that they will have reactions to foods because they react to mold in the environment, and they should not restrict their diet unless advised by a qualified health professional,’ she says.

‘Research shows that fungi can activate the immune system without causing an allergy.’

For some people, it’s possible that this contributes to food intolerance reactions, but evidence for this is lacking and more research is needed, she adds. “For most people, eating fermented foods contributes to good health.”

While there are skin and blood tests for airborne mold allergy that allergy clinics can do, Chloe Hall says there is no test for mold intolerance – if it is a ‘thing’ at all. The only way a person can tell if he or she has a food intolerance is to keep a food diary to see what is causing the symptoms.

* See allergyuk.org