Grains and the Dangers of Mycotoxins

There are many types of toxins that can wreak havoc with your health. Most of these toxins are things that you can’t see, smell or feel when you first come in contact with them, including one of the lesser known but dangerous types: mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins are compounds produced by fungi and literally mean “fungus poisons.” Poisoning caused by a mycotoxin is known as mycotoxicosis.

Mycotoxins can cause a wide range of health problems even if you’re just exposed to small amounts over an extended period of time. Mycotoxicosis can even be lethal if a patient has consumed large quantities of mycotoxins over a short period of time.

Mycotoxicosis symptoms depend on the type of mycotoxin, the amount and length of exposure, the age, health and sex of the exposed individual, and many poorly understood synergistic effects involving genetics, dietary status and interactions with other toxins.

This means that the severity of mycotoxin poisoning can be compounded by factors such as vitamin deficiency, caloric deprivation, alcohol abuse and infectious disease status.

Mycotoxins can also increase a patient’s vulnerability to microbial diseases, worsen the effects of malnutrition and interact synergistically with other toxins.

Dr. Dave Holland, co-author of the bestselling book The Fungus Link, is an expert on the harmful effects of mycotoxins on the human body. Dr. Holland’s list of diseases associated with mycotoxins include:

• AIDS
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Amyloidosis
• Anorexia Nervosa
• Atherosclerosis
• Balkan Nephropathy
• Bechet’s disease
• Cardiomyopathy
• Cirrhosis (alcoholic and biliary)
• Crohn’s disease
• Cushing’s disease
• Diabetes
• DIC
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Encephalopathy
• Ergotism
• Familial Mediterranean Fever
• Gout
• Heart failure
• Hyperactivity Syndrome
• Hyperaldosteronism
• Hyperlipidemia (high lipids)
• Hypertension
• Infertility
• IgA Nephropathy
• Kidney stones
• Leukocytoclastic vasculitis
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Mollaret’s meningitis
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Nephritis (kidney inflammation)

That’s quite a laundry list of diseases. And because the most toxic forms of fungi and the mycotoxins they produce have become more common in America’s modern and industrialized food supply, particularly in improperly stored, pesticide-sprayed grains which humans and livestock in large amounts in various forms, there lies the danger.

In 1985, the World Health Organization estimated that 25 percent of the world’s grains have been contaminated by mycotoxins. Today, more than two decades later, we can assume that this figure has increased due to an increase in global imports and exports of grains and cereals and the changes in the environment and weather.

If you want to avoid the dangers of mycotoxins, here are the top 10 foods to avoid (hint: most of them are grains):

1. Alcohol – is the mycotoxin of the Saccharomyces yeast (brewer’s yeast). Other mycotoxins besides alcohol can also be introduced into alcoholic beverages through the use of mold-contaminated grains and fruits. Alcohol producers often use grains that are too contaminated with fungi and mycotoxins to be eaten as table foods, so the risk of mycotoxicosis is higher if you are consuming more than just alcohol in your beverage.

2. Corn – is "universally contaminated" with mycotoxins such as fumonisin, aflatoxin, zearalenone and ochratoxin. Fumonisin and aflatoxin are known carcinogens, while zearalenone and ochratoxin cause estrogenic and kidney-related problems, respectively. It’s difficult to get away from corn because it’s everywhere! For example, a typical fast food chicken nugget comes from corn-fed chicken that is covered by a corn-based batter sweetened with corn syrup!

3. Wheat and wheat products – like bread, cereal and pasta. Pasta may be the “safest” because you can remove certain water-soluble mycotoxins, such as deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin), when you drain the boiling water after cooking it. However, traces of the more harmful, heat-stable and fat-soluble mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin, remain. When it comes to bread – it doesn’t matter if it’s organic, inorganic, sprouted, blessed or not – if the grain used has been stored for months in a silo, it can be contaminated with fungi.

4. Barley – is equally susceptible to contamination by mycotoxins because it can also be damaged by drought, floods, and harvesting and storage processes. It’s used in the production of cereals and alcoholic beverages.

5. Sugar (sugar cane and sugar beets) – is often contaminated with fungi and like other grains and fuels the growth of fungi, which feed on carbohydrates.

6. Sorghum – is used in a number of grain-based products for both humans and animals, and is also an ingredient in the production of alcoholic beverages.

7. Peanuts – A 1993 study revealed that peanuts are colonized by at least 24 different types of fungi. The alarming part was that they were found after the exterior of the peanut was sterilized!

8. Rye – What applies for other grains is the same with rye. Also, when wheat and rye are used to make bread, sugar and yeast are added – two other products that worsen the fungi problem.

9. Cottonseed – is usually in the form of cottonseed oil but is also used in grain form for many animal foods. Many studies show that cottonseed is often highly contaminated with mycotoxins.

10. Hard Cheese – Each time you see a mold growing on your cheese, there’s a good chance that there’s also a mycotoxin present.

Rice, oats and beans, which are also sources of carbohydrates, may also contain mycotoxins but these crops are generally more resistant to fungal contamination.

The Truth about Grains and Your Health

Ever wondered what our ancestors ate? Generations of humans survived primarily on meat from wild animals and whatever edible vegetation they can gather. Agriculture was born when man finally learned how to till the soil.

Now, from being a hunter and a gatherer, man now grows 17 plant species to provide majority of his food needs. Approximately 17 plants species provides 90 percent of the world's food supply. Six of the top 10 are all grains: wheat, corn (maize), rice, barley, sorghum and oats.

Imagine how the world could support its current six billion inhabitants and the estimated 12 to 15 billion people expected during the next century without plant-based foods.

Food grains are rich in carbohydrates, providing you with the energy you need to function. Grains also deliver B vitamins, iron, fiber and some phytonutrients.

Carbohydrates are generally grouped into two types: simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates come from sugars while complex carbohydrates are starches from whole grains, beans, nuts and vegetables.

A common (and unhealthy) misconception is that you need a lot of carbohydrates in your diet. The truth is you can survive without eating carbohydrates. Just take a look at Eskimos. They thrive by having a diet composed of high-quality protein, fat, water and minerals.

The carbohydrates from vegetables are preferable than those from grains. Most grains should be avoided because grain carbohydrates increase insulin levels and interfere with the body’s ability to burn fat.

The USDA’s Food Guide Pyramid recommends 6-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice and pasta – all grain foods – per day.

Does this mean that the nutritionists have gotten everything backwards about grains?

This may sound contrary to everything you’ve learned and believed about diet and nutrition but if you want to experience optimal health – to stay fit and avoid disease – you should severely limit, or may even need to entirely eliminate, grains from your diet.

Go Against the Grain

From an evolutionary point of view, the simplest explanation is that man’s body was not designed to consume grains.

Humans began consuming grains and sugars only 6,000 years ago. That’s how “recent” grain consumption is in relation to our total dietary experience. Man may have been eating grain foods for "millennia," but millennia is still a very short period in the overall timeframe of human existence. The estimated amount of genetic change which has occurred in the human genome over this time period is negligible, meaning modern man’s genes have remained largely unchanged and are still essentially the same to that of pre-agricultural man.

In terms of diet, this shows that modern humans are most ideally suited to eating the same types of food which were available to pre-agricultural man, like lean muscle meats, limited fatty organ meats, and wild fruits and vegetables, and not grains, legumes or the high-fat meat of modern domesticated animals.

When man learned agriculture, he secured the world’s food supply but he paid a very high price: his health would never be the same again because he began eating food that his body wasn’t designed to consume.

As a result of the agricultural revolution, modern humans began experiencing illnesses and health problems which their hunter-gatherer ancestors never had to deal with, including: infectious diseases, reduced stature, bone abnormalities and diseases, tooth problems, iron-deficiency anemia, and a shorter life span, among others.

The numbers don’t lie: in America, two-thirds of the population is already overweight and the obesity epidemic is rising. A key factor in these developments is poor diet, including the high consumption of grains and sugars.

Dr. Joseph Mercola, a leading natural health expert and author of New York Times bestseller The No-Grain Diet, has called grains and sugars as the main enemies to losing weight and living longer. But Mercola is not the only health professional advocating this seemingly radical stand. Over the last decade, a number of doctors and nutritionists have broken away from the accepted belief that grains are important for your health.

This site was launched to educate people about proper diet and nutrition and provide information on how to live healthy, eat right, lose weight and fight disease based on the “no-grain philosophy.”

It’s time to break free from the bondage of “grain gluttony.” If you want to experience a long-lasting positive change in your health, follow the nograindiets blog over the next few weeks for more articles and relevant information.