Mycotoxin testing or Mold Antibody Tests: which are more useful?
For some years, the medical community treating mold-related illness has focused on mycotoxins and their possible effects on the body. It’s true that mycotoxins generally cause more diverse, whole-body symptoms than what mold spores and fragments incite. The problem is that mycotoxins are more often present in our food supply than in moldy homes or workplaces! So, should we still test our bodies for them, or use mold antibody tests, that tests for our body’s reactions to mold itself?
The answer is…it depends on your symptoms (and possibly your diet). For those suspecting that environmental mold is causing their diverse symptoms of ill health, there are several ways they can test for exposure to mold.
According to Dr. Hagmeyer, a licensed Chiropractic physician who holds advanced certifications in Functional Medicine., the immune system generates various antibodies in response to antigens (substances your body sees as foreign and potentially harmful), like mold. These antibodies include IgE, IgG, and IgA and they play unique roles:
-
IgE (Immunoglobulin E) is Involved in immediate allergic reactions to various molds.
-
IgG (Immunoglobulin G) is associated with delayed hypersensitivity reactions, providing long-term immunity.
-
IgA (Immunoglobulin A) plays a role in mucosal immunity, particularly in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.
Mold IgE Testing is a way to assess a patient’s immune antibody response to specific mold species. Reactivity on these tests indicates a patient has an allergy to the reactive mold markers. (Mold Allergy VS Mycotoxin Toxicity- Is There A Difference?) This is a test done on blood samples.
However, there’s a difference between mold allergies and mold toxicity: you may have one or the other or both (and/or have mold growing in your body). According to Beth O’Hara, a Functional Naturopath and Functional Genetic Analyst who has a Doctorate in Naturopathy specializing in Functional Naturopathic Approaches, here are the differences (Mold Allergy vs Mold Toxicity vs Mold Colonization):
-
Mold Allergy is an immune response with typical allergic reactions symptoms. Mold allergen tests show that our bodies have been exposed to certain allergens in the past and have developed antibodies to them in the blood.
-
Mold Toxicity is the buildup of harmful mycotoxins in the body. Symptoms may include those like allergic reactions, but they can also be atypical. Mycotoxins typically do not last long in the body, therefore mycotoxins detected in the blood or urine indicate a current or ongoing exposure to mycotoxins.
-
Mold Colonization is when mold is growing in your body and releasing mycotoxins. (Usually also accompanied by Mold Toxicity.)
The symptoms for mold allergies are different from mycotoxin exposure. Mold allergies typically include:
-
Nasal congestion
-
Stuffy nose
-
Runny nose
-
Postnasal drip
-
Sneezing
-
Wheezing
-
Coughing
-
Asthma symptoms
-
Chest tightness
-
Shortness of breath
-
Headaches
-
Skin rashes/ Itchy skin
-
Hives
-
Watery eyes
If you have these symptoms, Dr. O’Hara recommends the following IgE Ulta Lab Tests:
According to a 2022 study in Germany, there are positive associations between mold exposure, mold sensitization, and asthma. Patients with respiratory symptoms associated with mold exposure typically had higher levels of total IgE (tIgE), specific IgE to mold (slgE mx(1)), and lower levels of CC16 (a biomarker for the early indication of lung damage, the anti-inflammatory club cell protein 16). The researchers recommendations were to perform serological sIgE measurement for mold mix (mx1). If mold-induced allergic asthma is suspected, further clarification of IgE-mediated sensitization should be performed, starting with sIgE or skin prick testing for individual mold allergens and ending with bronchial challenge test. (What should be tested in patients with suspected mold exposure? Usefulness of serological markers for the diagnosis) HOWEVER, Dr. O’Hara cautions that doing invasive tests like skin pricks can exacerbate an onslaught of symptoms in Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) patients, so anyone with severe reactions to mold will probably not want to go this route.
If you have neurological symptoms, intense anxiety and depression, or more diverse symptoms, then it may be you are suffering with mold toxicity, from mycotoxins in your air or food. Dr. O’Hara lists a number of mold toxicity symptoms which are very specific to Mold Toxicity. We encourage you to look further into Mold Toxicity if you experience any of these:
-
Nervous system symptoms, such as:
-
Internal vibration or tremor
-
Nerve pain: lightning-bolt or ice-pick type pain
-
Strange skin sensations
-
Sensitivities to everything: foods, chemicals, supplements, medications, sound, light, touch, EMFs, etc.
-
Static shocks
-
Cognition and memory issues
-
Problems with balance and coordination
-
Tics and twitches
-
Dizziness
-
Low blood pressure
-
POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)
-
Dysautonomia
-
Headaches and Migraines
-
Ear ringing (tinnitus)
-
Stubborn SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth)
-
Persistent Lyme or EBV (Epstein-Barre Virus)
-
Anxiousness, low mood, or feeling on edge
-
Hypermobility
-
Chronic sinus issues
-
Heavy metal toxicity
-
Pain disorders like Fibromyalgia, Interstitial cystitis, Genital pain
-
Brain fog
-
Autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis
-
Hormonal problems such as Estrogen Dominance, Endometriosis, Abrupt weight gain and difficulty losing weight
-
Mold allergies or fungi intolerance
-
Feeling worse after mold exposure in food, environment, or other contamination
-
Chronic Sleep Problems
-
Fatigue
For these, mycotoxins can be the culprit, because mycotoxins typically cause diverse neurological and autoimmune symptoms. The problem is that mycotoxins are more often present in our food supply than in moldy homes or workplaces! Blood and urine mycotoxin tests are available but can be expensive. Therefore, for many patients it’s easier to try a mold elimination diet for relief of symptoms, than to test first, since the tests will not tell where the mycotoxins are coming from, anyway.
Expert, clinician, and educator in the fields of Functional Medicine and ancestral health Chris Kesser recommends first eliminating processed, refined foods from your diet, including avoiding four categories of inflammatory foods:
-
Gluten
-
Acellular carbohydrates and refined sugar (substitute refined sugar with honey)
-
Dairy (because Grain-fed dairy can become contaminated with mycotoxins because mycotoxins present in moldy cattle feed pass into cows’ milk upon consumption)
-
Industrial seed oils such as Canola oil, Corn oil, Soybean oil
Next, the following five groups of food should be eliminated because they are frequently contaminated with mycotoxins.
-
Grains
-
Meat and milk from grain-fed animals
-
Dried fruits
-
Conventional coffee
-
Wine and beer
Instead, consume pastured and wild-caught animal products, specific non-starchy and starchy vegetables (see his list at the following link) and whole fruit, pre- and probiotic foods, antifungal foods and neuroprotective foods. (Food for Mold Illness: What to Eat and What to Avoid) Most functional doctors agree on which foods are risky for mycotoxins and which ones are clean and beneficial for detoxing from mycotoxins, so there are similar lists of specific foods and recipes from other functional doctors readily available on the internet.
In many cases, this type of diet relieves symptoms of toxic mold illness because following it greatly reduces intake of mycotoxins. Pediatrician Dr. Pejman Katiraei, DO, rarely orders urine mycotoxin tests partly because of the expense and lack of source information gained from the results; instead, he prescribes modified diets as well as blood mold allergy testing (like the IgE test above).
Finally, if you are immunocompromised and have been exposed to fungus, it’s possible for it to colonize your lungs, sinuses, and rarely, the brain. Many of these cases are hospital-acquired infections (HAI’s) or related to specific procedures, as in an outbreak of fungal meningitis caused by contaminated steroid injections in 2012-13. Many of these patients became extremely ill and some died. (Mold Infections of the Central Nervous System) Just diagnosing an internal fungal infection normally requires invasive tests, such as bronchial lavage (where the lungs are washed with sterile saline and the liquid is examined for microbes) or surgical biopsy, and these procedures severely stress the patient. However, a new non-invasive alternative test has recently been developed. This new blood test “can detect tiny fragments of mold DNA that have been shed into the bloodstream. The underlying technique, known as cell-free DNA polymerase chain reaction, sometimes referred to as a liquid biopsy, has shown promise in detecting other types of infections, as well as cancer…In the new study, the research team reviewed 506 cases in which a patient with suspected mold disease underwent both the blood test and an invasive (traditional) test within about a week. The majority of patients were immunocompromised. When the test results were evaluated based on the standard diagnostic criteria for invasive mold disease, both tests returned the same diagnosis 88.5% of the time.” (Blood test eases diagnosis of invasive mold disease)
If you suspect that mold exposure is causing your symptoms, there are many good functional doctors that can help you test and recover from it; here are some good websites which have more information on the diet above and other self-help practices, and some of which can help you find a doctor in your area:
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
