Posted by Pande Pire on August 28, 2006 at 12:56:28:
Ever heard of spoiled food that could not be cured through any amount of cooking?
The culprit here is overwhelmingly mycotoxins produced by pathogenic (harmful) fungi and molds.
Not all fungi are harmful. Medicinal mushrooms, for example, are a type of fungi. Mushrooms have been eaten by humans for tens of thousands of years. A particular type of mold of the Aspergillus family produces penicillin, a useful antibiotic.
However, pathogenic fungi produce toxins that are heat-stable and not destroyed by cooking (although toxicity is often decreased by thorough cooking).
Many people are fungi-phobic or mold-phobic and rightfully they have been lampooned in the media in skits showing them wearing space suits or going through other extreme measures.
Fungi and mold are a part of our ecosystem and cannot be practically avoided. Some low level exposure to mycotoxins probably helps build immunity. So persons going to extreme methods may have lowered immunity and invariably in life they may come upon some situation where they encounter high levels of mycotoxins. They will be unable to deal normally with this situation.
However, mycotoxins are serious business. Not so much the airborne mycotoxins which are usually simply an allergic problem, but mycotoxins consumed in food.
In fact, mycotoxins may be one of the real "hidden" causes for a wide range of health problems.
It was not known until rather recently how many products, even of the highest quality contain mycotoxins. Almost all food contains at least trace amounts.
Meat contains mycotoxins because the animals are fed mycotoxin-contaminated feed.
Again, cooking does not destroy these toxins.
They can build up the system damaging genes, immune system and bone marrow, causing cancer, destroying the liver and kidneys, and just generally wearing down the body.
Some researchers consider alfatoxin, a type of mycotoxin commonly found in corn and peanuts, to be the world's most dangerous carcinogen behind only radioactive plutonium.
If your body is having trouble detoxifying, these mycotoxins will build up and before long even if you only consume tiny quantities at a time, you will be in real trouble.
So how do we deal with these pesky mycotoxins? Here are my recommendations:
1. The most important thing is to have healthy gut bacteria. Lactic bacteria, actually any bacteria, binds to and otherwise neutralizes mycotoxins. It renders them harmless in the gut and also in the blood. The best way to ensure healthy gut flora is to eat food properly cultured in lactobacteria. Don't worry about all the scares on E coli, etc. These are actually very rare instances that occur because of ignorance on the part of small business owners. Some foods also help with gut colonies like honey and garlic.
2. Keep flour, grains, spices, etc. and products made with these ingredients dry, covered, away from windows, etc. Cinnamon and cloves are absolute mycocides (fungi killers) and can be added to baked goods to help prevent contamination.
3. Consumer foods high in antioxidants to neutralize the effects of mycotoxins already in the system. For example eat foods high in vitamin A, vitamin E and selenium. The herbs sage, basil and mint have an antioxidant which is known to be specifially effective against mycotoxins.
Interesting that a type of fungi -- gourment mushrooms like shiitake and oyster -- are very high in antioxidants like ergothioneine and polyphenols. In fact, mushrooms have up to 40 times more ergothioneine than previously recommended sources like wheat germ and chicken liver. Ergothioneine helps prevent liver and kidney damage.
4. Detoxify. The liver does the work of removing mycotoxins. Liver tonics and restoratives like tumeric, dandelion and milk thistle can be taken.
5. Coffee, strawberries, tea, pepper, grapes, turmeric, Fava tonka, garlic, cabbage, and onions are said to have mycotoxin remedial properties according to this website:
http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Lmycotoxins.htm
The site has other interesting suggestions for mycotoxicity like binding agents.
4.