"Should We Be Concerned About Aflatoxin?"
In recent years, mold has been blamed for all sorts
of vague subjective symptoms, but we have little scientific evidence
that mold has anything to do with them.
However, this concept of “toxic mold syndrome” has permeated
the public consciousness, perpetuated by disreputable predatory practices,
by those making money testing homes for mold spores or
testing people’s urine or blood.
But all these tests are said to just further propagate misinformation
and inflict unnecessary, and often exorbitant costs
on patients desperate for a diagnosis.
“The continued belief in this myth is perpetuated by those charlatans
who believe that measles vaccines cause autism, that homeopathy works,
that fluoride in the water should be removed . . .”
Mold toxin contamination of food, however, has emerged
as a legitimate issue of serious concern,
perhaps even more important than other contaminants
that might make their way into the food supply.
Hundreds of different types have been identified, but only one has been
classified as a known human carcinogen, and that’s aflatoxin.
The ochratoxin I talked about before is a possible human carcinogen,
but we know aflatoxin causes cancer in human beings.
In fact, aﬂatoxins are amongst the most powerful
carcinogens we know about.
For example, it has been estimated that about a fifth of all
liver cancer cases may be attributable to aflatoxins,
and since liver cancer is the third-leading cause of
cancer deaths worldwide, and kills so rapidly after diagnosis,
the contribution of aflatoxins to this deadly cancer is quite significant.
And once it makes it into the food, there is almost nothing
you can do to remove it. Cooking, for example, doesn’t help.
So, once it makes it into crops, or the meat, dairy, and eggs
from animals consuming those crops, it’s too late.
So, we have to prevent contamination in the first place,
and that’s what we’ve been doing for decades in this country.
Because of government regulations, companies are almost
“always sampling” for aflatoxin, resulting in nearly a billion dollars
in losses every year, which may get worse if climate change worsens
aflatoxin contamination in the Midwest Corn Belt.
So, on a consumer level it’s really more of a public health problem
in the less industrialized world such as African countries
where conditions are ripe, and farmers can’t afford
to throw away a billion dollars’ worth of crops.
Indeed, aflatoxin remains a public health threat in Africa,
rural China, and Southeast Asia, affecting more than half of humanity,
which explains why the prevalence of liver cancer in those areas
may be 30 times higher, but it is not a major problem in the U.S. or Europe.
For example, only about 1% of Americans have detectible levels
of aflatoxins in their bloodstream. Why even 1%, though?
Well, the FDA works to ensure that the levels of exposure
to these toxins are not kept as low as possible,
but, instead, as low as practical.
For example, in California there has been an increase in unacceptable
aflatoxin levels in pistachios, almonds, and figs.
Unacceptable in Europe, that is, so it affects our ability to export,
but not necessarily unacceptable for U.S. consumers,
as we allow twice as much aflatoxin contamination.
Figs are unique since they’re allowed to dry on the tree.
This makes them particularly susceptible to aﬂatoxin production.
It would be interesting to know about the fig consuming habits
of the 1% of Americans who turned up positive for the toxin.
If figs were to blame, I’d encourage people to diversify
their dried fruit consumption, but nuts are so good for us
that we really want to keep them in our diets.
The cardiovascular health beneﬁts outweigh the carcinogenic effects,
preventing thousands of strokes and heart attacks
for every one case of liver cancer.
“Thus, the population health beneﬁts provided by increased nut consumption
clearly outweigh the risks associated with increased aﬂatoxin exposure.”
So, we’re left with aflatoxin being mostly a problem
in the developing world, and because of that, it remains
a largely and rather shamefully ignored global health issue.
Where attention has been paid, it has been largely driven
by the need to meet stringent import regulations in the richer nations
of the world rather than to protect the billions of people
exposed on a daily basis.