The Corn We Eat is Infested with Mycotoxic Fungi

Are you Chronically Sick?  Many folks who find themselves practicing a gluten free diet wind up on that road for a variety of reasons. You may have tested positive for gluten intolerance, may have found out you suffer from Celiac disease, and may have even been diagnosed with candida overgrowth. If you are struggling and finding that the gluten free diet is not helping you regain your health it is quite possible you need to eliminate additional grains from your diet.

I recently attended the Conference on Natural Treatments for Tics, OCD, Tourette Syndrome, and Depression last weekend in Dallas. I heard Doug Kaufmann speak at length about mycotoxins and their negative effect on the body. The author of eight books on fungi and host of the syndicated television show, “Know the Cause”, he claims that these toxins are capable of causing various health problems and need to be addressed before folks with chronic illness can become well again.

As most Healthy-Family readers already know, we have been dealing with a corn intolerance issue in our house for over two years. Our eldest son, also diagnosed with Celiac, has had to eliminate corn after an IgG test. Grains are a tricky food to eliminate, especially when you find yourself surrounded by them at every possible social function you attend. In our case the IgG food intolerance test helped us get control over my son’s dysbiosis. Over time I came to believe that corn avoidance was only necessary when an individual either possessed a genetic inability to digest it or had developed an allergy. But Doug Kaufmann really challenged my assertions about corn intolerance when he carefully described the nature of fungus and common foods which harbor it to his audience last weekend.

I came home armed with two of his books. One I read completely while on the flight. I have since done further research on corn fungus. Now I question the health benefits of corn altogether. Honestly, what kind of nutritional benefit is there to eating corn? Well, let’s see….it’s high in fiber.

Hmph.

Now how about the fungi?

Well, that’s the problem. There are several. According to David Ellis’ 2002 article in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (49), there are at least 70,000 to possibly 1,500,000 fungal species but only 300 species have been associated with human infections and there are only about a dozen yeasts and 30 molds that are identified most commonly as human pathogens in scientific studies(7). So in short, we have a lot to learn on the subject. Folks suffering from chronic illness need to consider a possible fungal connection as they work to heal their bodies.

The most commonly discussed food fungus is Aspergillus flavus and it creates the aflatoxin mycotoxin on corn and peanut crops. You can see it growing on infected corn kernels. It has the appearance of yellow green spots. Hot dry weather coupled with insect attacks and heavy use of fertilizers will actually increase the levels of this mycotoxin on corn. By the way, in case you were wondering, many seed companies are well aware of this common fungal problem and are working to produce a genetically modified seed that will lessen corn’s tendency to develop aflatoxin on its kernels. Article continues on next page…

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The editor of Healthy-family.org has a master's degree in English from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor of science degree in special education. She has taught students from early elementary school through college freshman level. Today she enjoys reading and writing about both hot topics and those not so commonly discussed on other websites. Most of her days are spent playing all kinds of make-believe with her three very young and active sons. | All articles by Caryn Talty.