The hidden chemicals behind mold illness: how they affect your body, how to test for them, and where they hide in your food and your home

By Dr. Marie Andersson

In a recent newsletter, The Silent Killer (read it here), I shared my own story of an idiopathic diagnosis and how mold sickness hid behind it for years. This week I want to go deeper into the chemicals that actually make mold dangerous in the first place: mycotoxins.

What Are Mycotoxins?

When most people think of mold, they picture black mold and the odor it gives off. That’s not the whole picture, though; it’s only a fraction of the problem. There are many types of toxic mold, and each one gives off a different chemical, some far more dangerous than others. Most mold isn’t black at all; it’s often white or light in color and doesn’t give off a noticeable odor. It doesn’t take much to contaminate an environment.

While mold itself causes allergy-type symptoms, like respiratory issues (asthma, lung congestion, sinus infections), it’s the chemicals mold releases, called mycotoxins, that cause the deeper illness. Mycotoxicosis is the illness caused by these chemicals. Mycotoxins aren’t living things; they’re molecular heavyweight chemicals that are sticky and adhere to nearly everything they touch, including fabric, HVAC ducts, curtains, walls, floors, carpets, stuffed animals, books, furniture, mattresses, countertops, baseboards, electronics, and bedding. Essentially everything in a home.

Once mycotoxins are on surfaces, they get on your skin and absorb into your bloodstream, where they can cause a wide range of problems.

How Mycotoxins Affect the Body

Mycotoxin exposure has been associated with:

• Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), the body-wide inflammatory pattern triggered by biotoxin exposure
• Reduced immune function
• Gut issues, including leaky gut, which increases the risk of autoimmune disorders
• Neurological inflammation, leading to brain fog and even dementia
• Kidney and liver problems, including kidney tumors
• High blood pressure, fatigue, and weight gain
• Developmental delays in children, plus preliminary research linking mold exposure to autism spectrum disorder
• Eczema, headaches, and head and eye pain
• Chronic viral outbreaks, such as cold sores or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)
• Anxiety and heart palpitations

That’s a long list, and the point isn’t to alarm you: it’s to show why mold exposure so often gets mistaken for something else entirely, whether that’s a thyroid issue, chronic fatigue, or simply “getting older.”

If you’ve identified a mold problem in your environment, moving out and taking nothing with you is the cleanest solution, but for most people that isn’t feasible. Unfortunately, most remediation companies don’t do a thorough job of eliminating mycotoxin exposure, and finding the actual source of the mold can be a real challenge. It doesn’t take massive amounts of mold to make you sick; even small amounts are enough to release these chemicals into your environment and slowly affect your health.

Everyone is susceptible to mold illness, but due to differences in genetics, overall health, diet, medications, and other environmental factors, some people feel symptoms quickly, while others don’t notice anything until they leave their home for a period of time. I commonly hear stories like this: “I wasn’t feeling well, but it just became my ‘normal’ until I took a trip, felt better, and realized when I got home that it was my house making me sick.”

One more thing worth remembering: when the mold itself is gone, that doesn’t mean the mycotoxins have been neutralized and removed.

Two Mycotoxins Worth Knowing

There are many mycotoxins that come from both the environment and food. Let’s touch on two of particular concern.

Ochratoxin A

Ochratoxin A is produced by mold species such as Aspergillus and Penicillium. It can cause immune suppression, lung disease, urinary tract tumors, and is toxic to the kidneys and liver. It’s carcinogenic, classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 2B carcinogen (meaning it’s considered possibly carcinogenic to humans), due to its ability to damage DNA and interfere with how cells build new proteins.

It can also potentiate the effects of the inflammatory cytokine IL-1β on IL-8 secretion by 35% to 138%, and it increases the transepithelial passage of gut bacteria by 12- to over 1,500-fold. In plain terms: it turns up the body’s inflammatory signaling and makes the gut lining more permeable, letting bacteria pass through it that normally wouldn’t. Studies have shown it causes leaky gut syndrome and changes the nutrients absorbed from food.

Ochratoxin A cannot be efficiently excreted in urine, which is why blood serum testing is essential for an accurate picture. It crosses the placenta and reaches its highest levels in breast milk, and it has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, as well as preliminary research linking it to autism spectrum disorder in children.

Mycophenolic Acid

Mycophenolic acid is produced by certain species of Penicillium mold, often found in water-damaged buildings. Because it’s usually white rather than the black most people expect, it’s easy to miss and rarely gets identified as “mold” on sight.

It’s a powerful immune dysregulator that blocks the growth of lymphocytes, weakening the body’s ability to fight infection. In fact, it’s the same active compound found in CellCept, the prescription drug used to prevent transplant rejection: CellCept is a prodrug, meaning the body converts it directly into mycophenolic acid once ingested. An environmental toxin and a transplant drug turning out to be chemically identical is a good illustration of just how potent this mold byproduct really is.

If your immune system is compromised, you simply cannot get well. You lose the ability to fight infection and to properly detoxify. In today’s environment, where we’re exposed to toxins daily through air, food, and water, detoxification isn’t optional; it’s crucial. Properly eliminating not just the mold, but the mycotoxins themselves, is essential to regaining your health. Unfortunately, not all mycotoxins detox the same way, so it’s important to get professional guidance from an experienced healthcare provider.

Testing for Mycotoxin Illness

The most common way to test for mycotoxin illness is a urine test, which shows what your body is clearing on a daily basis. The problem is that some mycotoxins don’t show up in urine until levels are already profoundly high, at which point the body is quite sick. A urine test also can’t tell you whether an exposure is from the past or is ongoing. On top of that, mold exposure can depress the immune system so severely that the body stops excreting mycotoxins altogether.

When I see a urine mycotoxin test come back completely negative, I have an “uh oh” moment. That usually means the patient’s immune system is so shut down they aren’t detoxing well at all, or they’re on an immunosuppressive drug that has the same effect. I consider the urine test a screening test, not the definitive test that a blood test provides.

No one has zero exposure to mold; it’s present in common everyday foods. But there’s an important difference between the mycotoxins that come from food and the ones that come from a water-damaged building. Food-based exposure is usually a small, occasional dose that you ingest and your body has a chance to clear before the next exposure. Building-based exposure is a different story: it’s continuous, day after day, and it comes through multiple routes at once, inhaled and absorbed through the skin, often at a much higher concentration than anything you’d get from food. That combination of higher dose and constant, multi-route exposure is what makes mycotoxins from a water-damaged building so much harder on the body.

HOW WE CAN HELP
If you’d like to find out what’s actually going on, reach out to our office. We can talk through whether a urine screening panel or a blood serum test is the right starting point for your situation.

Where Mycotoxins Hide in Your Home (and Beyond)

Mycotoxins aren’t limited to the spot where mold is visibly growing. Because they’re sticky, they travel and settle throughout an entire building, often well beyond where the original problem started:

• HVAC systems and ductwork: A contaminated system doesn’t just collect mycotoxins, it actively recirculates them through every room in the house, day and night.
• Building materials behind the scenes: Drywall, insulation, and subflooring can hold onto mycotoxins long after a leak seems “dried out,” even if the water event happened months or years ago.
• Personal items you might not think to check: Car interiors after a spill or flood, gym bags, and luggage that’s been stored in a damp basement or garage can all carry mycotoxins home with you.
• Workplaces and shared spaces: Exposure isn’t limited to your house. An office, school, or other building with a history of leaks or a poorly maintained HVAC system can expose you there too.

This is part of why mold exposure can be so hard to pin down: the mycotoxins themselves can be present well outside the room, or even the building, where the mold was originally found.

Where Mycotoxins Hide in Food

Mold, and the mycotoxins it produces, can show up in everyday foods long before you’d notice a problem. Several of the categories below, especially grains, dried fruit, coffee, and nuts, are common sources of Ochratoxin A specifically, the toxin covered above:

• Dried fruits: Raisins, prunes, dates, and figs retain moisture on shelves, making them prone to fungal growth.
• Grains and cereals: Wheat, corn, rice, and oats can harbor mold during crop production and storage.
• Nuts and legumes: Peanuts, walnuts, and Brazil nuts are frequently susceptible to mold and aflatoxins.
• Alcoholic beverages: Beer, wine (especially red wine), whiskey, and brandy involve fermented ingredients that can carry high fungal or mycotoxin levels.
• Coffee and tea: Coffee beans and tea leaves can grow mold during drying and processing. (A few brands do sell certified mycotoxin-free coffee.)
• Aged and fermented foods: Cheeses with controlled mold (blue cheese, Roquefort), vinegar, soy sauce, miso, and sour cream contain active fungal or bacterial cultures.
• Processed or cured meats: Salami and dry-cured hams routinely feature harmless surface molds from their curing environments.

Safe Handling of Mold on Everyday Groceries

When mold accidentally grows on groceries you already have at home, the USDA Food Safety Guide recommends different handling depending on the food’s moisture content.

Discard Immediately

Bread, soft cheeses, yogurt, leftover cooked grains, soft fruits (berries, peaches), and opened jams or jellies, because mold roots easily penetrate porous or wet textures.

Trim and Keep

Hard cheeses, firm produce (carrots, cabbage), and dry salami can often be saved by cutting away at least one inch around and below the visible spot with a clean knife.

What to Do If You Suspect Mold in Your Home

Ready to find out whether mold or mycotoxins could be behind your symptoms? Contact us to schedule a consultation.

As a perk of being a patient here at Sage Wellness, I share a checklist of what it actually takes to remediate a home thoroughly, since most remediation companies stop short of addressing the mycotoxins themselves. If that’s you, request your copy through the contact form on our website. And if you’re not yet a patient, reach out to schedule a consultation, I’d love to help you get started.

This newsletter is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice. Please consult your clinician before starting or changing any supplement or treatment regimen.