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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Wow. This is really eye opening for me. Thanks.
That was a very interesting article. What makes it even more interesting is the prevalence of corn in our diets. It’s in nearly everything we eat and it is fed to quite a few animals to fatten them up. I even read that they feed it to farm raised salmon.
What about corn syrups? Would the processing for corn syrup destroy the fungus?
Rick,
The manufacturers use aspergillus to make HFCS. Some claim heat will kill mold spores– boiling point– but it can also lay dormant for years in the soil. It can cause asthma and is very dangerous for immune compromised folks. How it affects our processed food supply, hm…. I would have to research that more….. We don’t eat much processed foods here, for other reasons.
I found this link on fermented foods (soy sauce, et al) in Asia: Oriental Food Uses of Aspergillus (PDF) They claim that if it is properly fermented, aflatoxins are not present in the final product. Improperly fermented, they will remain. It is a matter of perfect timing.
Wow thats most interesting. Heat will kill mold but it will do nothing to remove the mycotoxins. I worked with a company on a heat process for use in grain elevators in Canada. The bottom line is that the mold in our experiments died but the mycotoxins remained.
Cathy states her son has gluten intolerance and Corn Intolerance shown by Ige test. Cathy, if an Ige reaction occurs to corn, then your son has an ALLERGY to corn, not an intolerance. Corn allergy (Ige mediated) is somewhat unusual. I know because I am VERY INTOLERANT to corn products, and have been since I was young in around 1970 when all the big food manufacturers began sweetening things with corn instead of sugar. Sugar, by FDA label laws bust either be cane or beet source. I stopped eating corn products in 1981 and all of by corn intolerance symptoms went away. Interesting thing about corn intolerance–and I would assume corn (Ige) allergy, is that symptoms can begin right away or may take up to 3 days. Corn intolerance symptoms are most all GI symptoms, nearly exactly the same as gluten intolerance. I wonder if your son is not gluten intolerant, and all the symptoms are rather from just the corn. I have told MD’s about my corn intolerance and many of them have assumed I really had gluten intolerance–that is how dumb some MD’s are. As there is no Ige test for gluten intolerance, the only way to figure out if your son’s problems are really just from corn is to give him some wheat and see what happens. A little gluten will not make him sick or die like a little corn would.
Duncan,
I am not sure who Cathy is, but if you are referring to the article above, I clearly stated that the test my son took was an IgG test and not an IgE test. You are correct that a true IgE allergy to corn is unusual. There are many sugar products that can be corn derived aside from the usual suspects, ie: corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. Visit Corn Sugars 101 for information on corn sugars.
My son is gluten intolerant and was diagnosed with celiac disease. It is not uncommon for recently diagnosed celiacs to have intolerance to other protein foods like corn, soy, and dairy. In some cases low stomach acid is a contributing factor. But in this article I highlight the possibility that fungal overgrowth might also be a factor. There are celiacs who benefit from taking hydrochloric acid with food and notice diminished symptoms when they eat corn, soy, or dairy and so they will resume eating these protein rich foods while maintaining a gluten free diet. You mention that a little gluten will not make my son sick or die like a little corn would. I think you misunderstand celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder that can only be controlled through a gluten free diet. When a person with celiac eats wheat gluten it produces harmful antibodies that cause the body to destroy healthy villi hairs in the small intestine resulting in nutrient malabsorption. This basically means that the celiac’s body cannot digest and absorb their food properly.
There is no discovered autoimmune condition that proves corn is capable of creating the same type of intestinal damage as gluten, but I do believe that it is possible. An IgE allergy will produce immediate symptoms. IgG allergies produce delayed symptoms and are often GI related. I know that for some people soy intolerance will also cause sprue. Any person with symptoms of sprue should avoid wheat, gluten, corn, soy, and dairy at least until their gut is healed. They should also take good probiotics and possibly digestive enzymes as well to help heal their digestive system. Our immune system is directly tied to our gut.
Food intolerance can heal. It is important to understand the root cause and to treat it. With an autoimmune disorder like celiac, however, even after the body has healed and the antibody levels have reached normal levels, the patient has to remain on a gluten free diet, period.
I certainly hope the medical community researches corn intolerance more fully. If there is an autoimmune condition similar to celiac that is affecting corn eaters society needs to be made aware.