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. Do you also suffer from “mold toxicity”, as many influencers now claim?
These are just some of the “warnings” appearing on social media that foods containing mold (including sourdough bread, blue cheese and kimchi) may trigger allergies, intolerances or symptoms of ” food toxicity.
Influential people (ranging from holistic health advisors, nutritional therapists, or simply people who are now following very restrictive diets after self-diagnosing themselves) claim that mold in food is the trigger for a number of health problems.
In a post by Mari Llewellyn (@pursuitofwellnesspodcast), she interviews a nutritional therapy practitioner who warns against mold not only in coffee but also in cereals, 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, @pickyhands on TikTok advises viewers to “stop drinking mold for fun and then ask yourself why you have problems in your body,” pointing out the fact that many drinks contain citric acid (a preservative), which can be derived from mold.
In fact, the list of foods to avoid may be even longer, according to some influencers.
It goes without saying that most of us would avoid eating foods that have gone moldy, but some of those that stand out now are foods that naturally contain mold, which is not necessarily visible or harmful.
According to TikTok ‘holistic health coach’ @LeiahR, it may be beneficial to give up certain foods that “contain mold,” such as wine or bread.
Influencers blame mold-containing foods for many health problems
Molds are a type of fungus (e.g. yeast) and are naturally present in many foods; in fact, they are quite difficult to avoid. For example, they are found naturally in bread, kombucha, wine and beer, but also in fermented cheeses, pickles, nuts, coffee and mushrooms.
Molds can also be added to some foods to improve flavor: the fungus Botrytis cinera, for example, is used in winemaking to reduce the water content of grapes and enhance sweetness, and the fungus Aspergillus niger 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 toxicity in everyday foods and drinks. It is also suggested that some people (particularly those with an established allergy to airborne mold) may also react to mold in the food they eat.
But medical experts are deeply skeptical.
“Although people can develop allergic symptoms such as itchy or swollen eyes and allergic asthma when breathing in mold spores, this is not related to food, but to the environment, such as damp, poorly ventilated buildings,” says Dr. José Costa, allergy specialist. at the West Midlands Children’s Allergy Clinic and honorary clinical professor of allergy at Warwick Medical School.
“Molds are found in so many different foods that there is no known mechanism to suggest they can cause allergy or intolerance symptoms, and there is no published evidence to suggest that eliminating these foods can improve symptoms,” he says.
In fact, molds are part of a healthy gut microbiome – the community of bugs, including bacteria and viruses, that live in our intestines and are linked to many aspects of our health.
“And many of the foods we’re encouraged to eat for a healthy gut are fermented foods that contain mold, including plain yogurt, cheeses, and sourdough bread,” says Dr. Costa.
Wellness literature also suggests that some people, particularly those with an established allergy to airborne mold, may react to mold in the foods they eat.
In fact, if mold were as problematic as these influencers suggest, we would see large-scale problems and more patients would come to clinics with allergies, which is not the case, he says. (He notes that some people are genuinely allergic to mushrooms, for example, which are a type of mushroom, but this is rare and usually related only to certain types of mushrooms.)
“When people show allergic symptoms, they may be 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 is not mold but some other element of the food that is causing the reaction, agrees Chloe Hall, spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association who runs Calm Gut Dietitian (an online clinic for food intolerances).
“Anecdotally, some people with mold allergies (airborne) say they also react to foods like mold or foods containing yeast, but it’s pretty rare,” he adds.
Amena Warner, head of clinical services at the charity Allergy UK, says mold allergy symptoms are respiratory or allergic rhinitis-type symptoms, such as wheezing and itchy swollen eyes, and are linked to mold spores. in the air found in damp buildings, rather than with food.
“Sometimes a green, powdery mold grows on rotting food that can become airborne and cause allergic symptoms, but this is triggered by breathing in airborne particles, not eating them,” he says.
There is a potential, although very rare, type of allergic reaction to mold in food: the charity Anaphylaxis UK says a small number of people have been found to react to the meat substitute product Quorn, which is made from mycoprotein (a fungal protein derived from the fungus Fusarium venenatum, a type of mold), although this is rare (an analysis by a panel of experts convened by Quorn’s maker, Marlow Foods, found that there was one case of illness for every 1.85 million servings of Quorn in 15 years).
Annette Weaver, clinical dietary advisor at Allergy UK, says people with a mold allergy may be at increased risk of developing allergies to mold-related foods (mushrooms, yeast, mycoproteins, 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 under the advice of a qualified health professional,” he says.
“Research suggests that mold can activate the immune system without causing an allergy.”
For some people, it is possible that this contributes to food intolerance reactions, but evidence for this is lacking and more research is needed, he adds. “For most people, eating fermented foods contributes to good health.”
Although there are skin and blood tests for airborne mold allergy, which allergy clinics can perform, Chloe Hall says there is no test for mold intolerance, if there really is one. The only way someone can identify if they have a food intolerance is to keep a food diary to see what triggers the symptoms.
* See allergyuk.org