One of the few food contaminants found in high levels in those who eat plant foods are mycotoxins, fungi toxins in grains such as oats.
In France, the exposure to food pollution was compared between vegetables and meat consumption, and the results showed that the exposure to pollution of persistent persistent substances such as PCBS and dioxins is very low among those who eat a plant-based diet. This is due to their avoidance of food of animal origin, although they have a high expression of some Mycotoxins, fungal toxins present in processed foods.
There are many types of mold in the world, probably millions, and most are harmless. However, over the past several years, certain mold toxins, such as aflatoxin and ochratoxin, have been making their way into breakfast cereals. Hundreds of samples were removed from store shelves, and about half were found to be contaminated with OChratoxin, but those store shelves were in Pakistan, which has a hot, humid climate and FL ash oods, which lead to the spread of the fungus. It turned out to have similar results in Europe, Serbia, for example. They have also been found in Spain and seen in Portugal. Then Mycotoxins were found in breakfast food in Canada. What about breakfast radefas sold in the United States?
The investigators collected 144 samples and, as in other countries, they found that almost half contained Ochratoxin, but about 7% exceeded the maximum limit established by the European Commission. What is the Signinti Fi Cance of finding Ochratoxin in US breakfast foods? In the largest study to date, which included nearly 500 samples of store shelves across the United States, the highest detection rates were 40%, although only 16 samples broke European standards. All grains containing ochratoxin were oat-based; However, approximately 1 in 13 ground grain samples tested were contaminated.
Ochratoxin has been regulated by many countries to reduce chronic exposure. Shown below and at 2:23 in my video Ochratoxin in breakfast cereal Are the current regulations for Mycotoxins in Cereal-based baby food, for example, worldwide.
Some countries are very strong, such as the European Union; Some countries are low, and one country in particular has no standards at all. Ochratoxin is currently not regulated at all in the United States.
What about sticking to organic products? One might expect them to be difficult because fungicides are not allowed in organic production. However, “Mycotoxin concentrations are often the same or reduced in organic compared to conventional products.” For example, in one of the breakfast studies, researchers found the same contamination, and the same was found in infant food. It cannot be concluded that organic is better than organic from a mycotoxin point of view. “Without the use of fungicides, the organic system generally appears to keep mycotoxin contamination at low levels.” But what does that mean, given how widespread it is? How concerned should we be about public health consequences from “long-term exposure to this potent mycotoxin”?
If you look at blood samples taken from people going back decades, sometimes 100 people turn positive with Ochratoxin circulating in their blood. In a certain sense, Mycotoxins are “tiny bits of food that cannot be avoided, because they are not easy to find and many of them can remain hidden. Also, if the food is already contaminated, Mycotoxins are not destroyed by cooking. Therefore, are there any foods that we should simply try to avoid because of the high risk of contamination? This is exactly the question that I will address next.
Doctor’s Note
This is the first video in a four-part series on mold toxicity. Check out the related posts below for the other three.
