My Clean Pantry

I organized our kitchen pantry last week. A small feat for some. A major milestone for me.

Organization was one of my fortes in my previous life. I even did some public speaking on the subject.

As our toxic mold exposure grew over the years, my ability to organize diminished. I became easily overwhelmed. I would see piles of papers or heaps of laundry and become paralyzed. I couldn’t make decisions about the contents of the piles. Decisions, even the smallest of them, brought high levels of anxiety.

Moving out of the house didn’t help my decline in brain function. If anything, it worsened. I would find myself in a room unsure of why I was there. Simple tasks like doing the dishes became daunting. I forgot appointments and asked family members to put their needs in writing so I wouldn’t forget. Multi-tasking became impossible.

After our move to Arizona, I struggled to find my way around. (This was quite a switch from the old days when I used to easily conquer destinations with my impeccable sense of direction.) One Saturday morning I headed to a hair appointment in a different part of town. Somehow I got turned around. I found myself headed toward home and had no idea how to find my destination. The salon receptionist listened as I sobbed uncontrollably and graciously walked me through the streets and turns.

This 3-minute video shows what happens to bullet ants when their bodies are infiltrated by a parasitic fungus. According to the narrator, the ants become disoriented and confused.



It's been two years since that fateful drive to the hair salon. I continue to feel disoriented at times and still struggle with my memory. But I find myself with a renewed ability to organize and perform daily tasks. My desk is less cluttered. My clothes are stored in neat piles. And my pantry is finally organized.

Now that I've succeeded with the pantry, I'm ready to attack the bathroom drawers, the laundry room cabinets, and the spice cabinet. I’ve become an organizing maniac. Which shows I'm still struggling with my obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Something I'll have to work on... if I remember.

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Mycotoxins in Food (Part Two)

Mycotoxins are common occurrences in our food supply. If there is any type of health liability, the ingestion of mycotoxins only adds to the toxic load. There can be great benefit, therefore, in mycotoxin avoidance.

The veterinary world is well aware of this truth. The Center for Veterinary Medicine, part of the Food and Drug Administration, gave a startling presentation in 2006 listing specific mycotoxins and some of the health effects for animals and humans.

The following excerpts highlight some of the key findings of Dr. Michael Henry, as presented to the Risk Management Agency:

Aflatoxins

• Produced by Aspergillus sp. (A. flavus and A. parasiticus)

• Common feed substrates such as corn, cottonseed, peanuts, and sorghum.

• Occur most commonly in warm, humid regions of the south and central regions of the U.S.

• High levels of aflatoxins are associated with above-average temperature and below-average rainfall (micro-climate)

Vomitoxin

• Produced by members of genus Fusarium (especially F. graminearum)

• Commonly found on wheat, barley, rye and oats

• Reported most frequently in cool, temperate regions (northern U.S. and Canada)

• Member of the trichothecene family of mycotoxins

• Inhibitor of protein synthesis, affecting GI tract and immune system

• Swine most susceptible -- causing vomiting and feed refusal

Fumonisins

• Produced by Fusarium sp. (F. verticillioides)

• Found worldwide, mainly in corn and particularly corn screenings

• High levels associated with hot and dry weather, followed by periods of high humidity

• Three major fumonisins in feed are B1, B2 & B3 (B1 + B2 + B3 = total fumonisins)

• Most susceptible species are horses (equine leukoencephalomalacia) and rabbits

• Suspected carcinogens

Ochratoxin A

• Produced by Aspergillus sp. (A. ochraceus) and Penicillium sp. (P. viridicatum)

• Highest levels usually found in cereal grains (corn, barley, wheat and rye)

• At least nine ochratoxins identified, but ochratoxin A is the most common and has the greatest toxicological significance

• Nephrotoxic and a suspected carcinogen

• No FDA action, advisory or guidance levels established for ochratoxin A in U.S. feed

Zearalenone

• Produced by Fusarium sp. (primarily F. graminearum)

• Common substrates are corn, wheat, barley, occasionally oats

• Production favored by high humidity and low temperatures

• Estrogenic mycotoxin, swine most susceptible – vulvar swelling in gilts

• Toxicity related to reproductive system

• No FDA action, advisory or guidance levels established for zearalenone in U.S. feed.

The full report can be viewed here.

The website Know Mycotoxins offers valuable information on mycotoxin management for animal feed. Here, too, we see a striking understanding of the dangers of crop contamination:

Any growing crop, including forage and cereals, is susceptible to mould, with Fusarium types being the main concern. Fusarium moulds can produce mycotoxins on the growing plant. Whilst the moulds themselves may not survive the transition from field to feeding trough, the mycotoxins will remain intact, though invisible to the naked eye. Feeds may therefore appear and analyse as high quality, but may harbour a mycotoxin(s) challenge.

From my perspective, what's healthy for animals is also healthy for me. Animals are at risk when they eat contaminated food. Are we any different?

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Leviticus 14

The Old Testament addresses the issue of mold and clearly states that mold must be taken seriously.

The following passage is found in Leviticus 14. This is taken from "The Message" version.

35-42 "...the householder is to go and tell the priest, 'I have some kind of fungus in my house.' The priest is to order the house vacated until he can come to examine the fungus, so that nothing in the house is declared unclean. When the priest comes and examines the house, if the fungus on the walls of the house has greenish or rusty swelling that appears to go deeper than the surface of the wall, the priest is to walk out the door and shut the house up for seven days. On the seventh day he is to come back and conduct another examination; if the fungus has spread in the walls of the house, he is to order that the stones affected by the fungus be torn out and thrown in a garbage dump outside the city. He is to make sure the entire inside of the house is scraped and the plaster that is removed be taken away to the garbage dump outside the city. Then he is to replace the stones and replaster the house.

43-47 "If the fungus breaks out again in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house has been scraped and plastered, the priest is to come and conduct an examination; if the fungus has spread, it is a malignant fungus. The house is unclean. The house has to be demolished—its stones, wood, and plaster are to be removed to the garbage dump outside the city. Anyone who enters the house while it is closed up is unclean until evening. Anyone who sleeps or eats in the house must wash his clothes.

48 "But if when the priest comes and conducts his examination, he finds that the fungus has not spread after the house has been replastered, the priest is to declare that the house is clean; the fungus is cured."

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New Mexico High School Update

The case of Paul Taylor vs. Roswell Independent School District took a new turn this week.

Paul Taylor sued the school district in November 2008, requesting permission to test Goddard High School's indoor air after his daughter became ill. Taylor won the right to test. The school was found to have "massive fungal presence as shown by fungal DNA" including stachybotrys and several types of aspergillus. Asbestos fibers were found in airstream pathways as well.

Part of the court order included an admonition that the school district retain all evidence. The court also stated that evidence must not be removed without allowing access to Taylor.

This week the court ruled that the District violated the order by completing repairs, remediation, and removing construction materials at issue in the lawsuit, and failed to turn them over to Taylor for testing and examination. Further, the court ruled, "all materials that were removed, remediated, repaired, and/or destroyed by the School District in violation of the May 1, 2009 Order are presumed to be contaminated with mold and/or toxin producing pathogens."

To view the press release about the court ruling, click here.

A document signed by the treating physician for Taylor's daughter, Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker, makes an interesting point regarding the well-being of the students at Goddard High School.

"In this instance, it is my opinion that we have an historical precedent in the fields of public health and epidemiology to show us the way to our next step.

In the late 1850’s, cholera was the scourge of London.

An observant physician, John Snow, noted the presence of cholera, diagnosed by symptoms, clinical course and outcome, was confined to those people in a given area who drank water from a single public well but not from another.

He stopped people from drinking from the putative causative well and the cholera epidemic abated. It wasn’t known that cholera was caused by a water-borne bacterium (Vibrio cholera) until the 1880’s and it wasn’t known that the mechanism of cholera illness involved a watersoluble toxin until the 1950’s.

Yet by protecting the children by stopping use of a well, even before he had every detail needed to show exactly every step of specific causation, he saved countless lives.

In 2010, we would test the well water for Vibrio toxins, confirm the problem, fix the source of the toxin entry into our children and re-open the well because we all need potable water.

. . . In this case, given the clear delineation of illness (one that is statistically impossible to be ascribed to chance), protection of the children at GHS from toxins and inflammagens is a duty no less important now than in 1856. That duty extends beyond medical care and points directly to assessment of potential health risk posed by a public facility.

The duty is clear: Identify the problem, correct the problem, fix the source so it never recurs and return the children to a safe fountain of knowledge."

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My Kitchen, My Ally

If avoidance is the first line of defense against toxic mold, then altering our diet has to be close behind. I take this from Hippocrates, who linked our health to the air we breathe and the food we eat. Known as the father of medicine, Hippocrates was the first to introduce the idea that illness had a physical and rational explanation. A far cry from the belief of his day that illness was the result of evil spirits. He went so far as to say,

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
Before our exposure to toxic mold I easily succumbed to a world of fast food and sugar. Our pantry was full of Pop-Tarts and Fruit Loops. Our diet was our destiny, or so it seemed.

As it became clear that our mold exposure would not easily be reversed, the words of Hippocrates haunted me. I knew I needed to change our diet. The task was daunting to say the least.

I started slowly. I remember how foreign it was for me to shop in the health food section. The prices and labels were overwhelming. Little by little I introduced new foods and altered my grocery list. We eliminated gluten and cut way down on sugar. I felt lost, however, and kept trying to find "healthier foods."

Now that I understand what fungus does to the body, I know what I'm looking for and why.

Fungus lacks chlorophyll and therefore cannot make its own food. When ingested or inhaled it must have food in order to live. Its primary food? Sugar and carbohydrates. What happens when we cut out sugar and carbohydrates? The fungi and the resulting mycotoxins die.

Many of the foods that help restore health, therefore, have chlorophyll. The greener the food the more chlorophyll. Thus broccoli and spinach truly are "superfoods."

The best help I've found with diet is Doug Kaufmann's Anti-Fungal Diet. The Phase One Diet is comprised of meats, specific vegetables, specific fruits, plain yogurt, and more. If you have 3 minutes to spare, watch the Fungus 101 video on the homepage of the website Know The Cause.

We have seen significant die-off responses and improvements from Phase One. It's a lot of work, but I would rather be in my kitchen than another doctor's office. With the exception of insulin we have eliminated all prescription medications.

We have a long way to go. But every day away from a mold-contaminated environment and every stalk of broccoli puts us one day closer to restored health.

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Mold and Mycotoxins

"Fungus is everywhere." If I had a dime for every time I've heard this statement I'd have enough money to pay for an air test for any of those who have said it.

My favorite use of this phrase came from a spokesperson for the FAA in regard to concerns about mold in the air traffic control tower in Atlanta. Another control tower with mold issues.

"Not to minimize the employees' concerns, but mold is everywhere, especially down here in the south."

It's true. Fungus is all around us. It's a wonderful addition to our creation. It naturally recycles plant and animal life. It's a gift.

Until it's found indoors. In high concentrations. Or in foods. In high concentrations. It helps to learn the basics of fungus in order to understand the dangers. Fungi are not plants. They are not animals. They are their own kingdom. A rather daunting realization. There are more than 1.5 million fungal species. In other words, we have a lot to learn about this kingdom. The fungus kingdom includes yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.

It's too much to tackle a kingdom in a blog entry, but there are two key characteristics of fungi worth mentioning. 1. Fungi lack chlorophyll. 2. Fungi cannot make their own food.
(This makes diet critical to recovery after an exposure and worthy of a later discussion.)

But here is the key piece of information. Fungi secrete and make a poisonous substance called a mycotoxin. Mycotoxins are toxic chemicals. Now, if we are in a building with little to no ventilation with mold growing behind the walls, mycotoxins are emitted. The fact that mold is everywhere in the world, especially the south, is no longer comforting.

According to the World Safety Organization, "The human body once exposed to a mycotoxin runs a triple risk to its toxic effects. The triple risk factors are direct toxic effect of the mycotoxin, acquisition of mutated RNAi from the mycotoxin's parent fungus, and creation of an internal biofilm, which will harbor a toxic soup of disease."

Here are some of the mycotoxins known to cause harm to mankind. Again, this is from the World Safety Organization's 17th International Environmental Safety & Health Conference & Exposition. (November 3 - 5, 2003)

DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH VARIOUS MYCOTOXINS

Aflatoxin

Aflatoxin is one of the most potent carcinogens known to man and has been linked to a wide variety of human health problems. Aspergillus species fungi produce aflatoxin.

Ochratoxin

Ochratoxin is primarily produced by species of Penicillim and Aspergillus. Ochratoxin is damaging to the kidneys and liver and is also a suspected carcinogen. There is also evidence that it impairs the immune system.

T-2 Toxin

T-2 Toxin is trichothecene produced by species of Fusarium and is one of the more deadly toxins. If ingested in sufficient quantity, T-2 toxin can severely damage the entire digestive tract and cause rapid death due to internal hemorrhage. T-2 has been implicated in the human diseases alimentary toxic aleukia and pulmonary hemosiderosis. Damage caused by T-2 toxin is often permanent.

This is only a partial list. Other mycotoxins include: fumonisin, vomitoxin, zearalenone, gliotoxin. The mold stachybotrys emits tricothescenes.

I like what my friend Kristina said the other day when I told her we tested our air in our current home because of some slightly elevated mold counts. "Mold is always guilty until proven innocent." When we understand the biological warfare that accompanies the fungal kingdom, guilt is far better to presume than innocence.

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Fungus Questionnaire

We have followed an anti-fungal diet to varying degrees since beginning our recovery. The diet purported by Doug Kaufmann has proven to be the most comprehensive and helpful. I plan to share more about our journey with this aspect of treatment, but for now I thought some may benefit from this series of questions compiled by Kaufmann and Dr. David Holland.

The questionnaire (51 questions in all) "is used to assess the degree to which patients may have been exposed to fungi, and the odds that the microbes or mycotoxins lie behind a given problem" (from the book "Eating Your Way to Good Health").

1. At any time in your life, have you taken repeated or prolonged rounds of antibiotics?

2. At any time in your life, have you taken repeated or prolonged courses of steroids or cortisone-based pills?

3. Have you been diagnosed with fibromyalgia?

4. Do you have, or have you ever had asthma?

5. Do you have diabetes? Type 1 or Type 2?

6. At any time in your life, have you been treated for worms or parasites?

7. Have you traveled outside of the U.S.?

8. Have you had ringworm, nail fungus?

9. Have you ever been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD?

10. Had you spent time in or near construction sites when you became ill?

11. Are you bothered by recurring problems with your digestive tract?

12. Does your health problem get worse in response to heat?

13. Do your inner ears itch?

14. Does your vision blur for no apparent reason?

15. Do you have acne?

16. Has your home or office ever had a mold problem?

17. Do your symptoms worsen on damp days, or when you spend time in musty/moldy environments?

18. Are you allergic to any foods?

19. Do you have itching, tingling, or burning skin?

20. Do you have hives, psoriasis, dandruff, or chronic skin rashes?

Collectively, our family scores a 20 out of 20. If just one of the 30 doctors who saw us during the height of our exposure would have suggested a link with the fungus and mycotoxins, it would have altered our course dramatically.

Environment is only one means of exposure. According to Kaufmann, foods such as corn, wheat, and peanuts are commonly contaminated with mycotoxins.

For more information on the Anti-Fungal Diet, see Doug Kaufmann's website Know the Cause.

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