Mycotoxins and Acne: Can Mould Contamination In Coffee, Chocolate and Beer Damage Your Skin?

On this website, we’ve talked endlessly about how chemical contaminants are hiding in foods, cosmetics and tap water and secretly causing everyone’s acne.

There’s no doubt whatsoever that heavy metals like arsenic and supposedly healthy additives like fluoride are joining forces and fuelling the fires of the global acne pandemic.

That’s why in my eBook Annihilate Your Acne, we dedicate an entire chapter to exposing the specific contaminant groups which you need to religiously avoid…

…but one group we haven’t discussed yet is the naturally occurring plant toxins. Namely, the many varieties of mycotoxins, toxic bioweapons manufactured by mould species growing on contaminated foods.

 

Mycotoxin fact file

In nature, there are three broad groups of fungi: mushrooms, bacteria and mould. The latter two are locked in a never-ending war for dominance, raging for millions of years, and one of the mould’s key weapons in this war is mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins have the power to kill bacteria cells, and hence, many of the backbones of western medicine are based on them. Penicillin is a classic example, being based on Penicillium moulds before going on to save millions of lives.

But there’s a dark side too: that other mycotoxins have the ability to completely destroy your health. Examples include aflatoxins, ochratoxin, T2 toxins, fumonisins, zearalenones (which have potent estrogenic activity) and the relatively unknown deoxynivalenols. Consider, for example, the respiratory problems which inhabitants of old and disused buildings commonly have: mould spores are the classic culprit.

Why do we care about mycotoxins? Because the single biggest sources are foods contaminated with the moulds that produce them. Poor quality coffee, chocolate beer, wine, nuts and beans are all hotbeds of mycotoxins, with cocoa beans, for example, being contaminated during the earliest stages of sun drying on wooden platforms.

Nearly 100% of acne patients have mycotoxins in their bodies. At high levels, mycotoxins are just as dangerous for acne as heavy metals like arsenic or mercury.

Consider the two most famous mycotoxins:

Ochratoxin A – primarily found in green coffee, cocoa products, nuts, dried fruits, and meat. Predominantly generated by the aspergillus and penicillium mould families. This mycotoxins is notorious for accumulating in the kidneys and causing gradual kidney failure, in humans, rats and birds alike. Ochratoxins A has an equally high affinity to the brain, and may contribute towards Alzheimer’s disease.

Aflatoxin B1 – considered to be the most potent cancer-causing substance on Earth, aflatoxin B1 is classified as a group 1a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (the worst of the worst). Impoverished Asians and Africans whose foods are heavily contaminated with aflatoxins have some of the world’s highest liver cancer rates.

Read Annihilate Your Acne – learn how to clear your skin permanently

Aflatoxin B is found in cocoa, coffee, nuts and most notoriously peanuts. It’s also rampant in animals feed, and even has ability to penetrate human skin. Aflatoxin B is manufactured by two main species of mould – aspergillus parasitic and aspergillus flavus.

 

The rising shadow of mycotoxins

You’re now an expert on the two big beasts of the mycotoxin world, but there’s dozens of others which can destroy human health. The WHO is particularly concerned these days, worries which began back in 1991 when the WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives gave aflatoxin B a tolerable weekly limit of 11ng per kg of bodyweight.

By 1997, the WHO committee had concluded that aflatoxins were strongly carcinogenic and should be kept as low as reasonably possible. By 2007, slashing mycotoxins in food and animal feed (and particularly aflatoxin B) had finally became an official plank of the WHO’s global strategy. 100 countries encompassing 85% of the world’s human population regulate mycotoxin levels in foods, with the EU being particularly tight.

Consumers are increasingly concerned as well; coffee lovers everywhere are now ditching their poor quality instant beans. The famous Bulletproof coffee recipe, swimming with butter, is popular partially because of its avowed absence of any mycotoxins. Fitness fanatics in paleo and primal circles are arguing right now over whether mycotoxin disqualify coffee and chocolate completely.

But are mycotoxins a threat to clear skin specifically?

 

Mycotoxins crank up your inflammation levels

Perhaps the most notorious danger of mycotoxins is disrupting the immune system. Anyone with a sensitivity will know the classic symptoms – joint pain, total disruption of mental concentration, fatigue. Those are also of the classic signs of chronic inflammation, the worst disease behind acne.

ONE: one classic villain behind indoor mould contamination in old dilapidated buildings is s.chartarum and the trichothecene mycotoxins it produces. In this 2009 study, purified trichothecene strongly enhanced the pro-inflammatory chemicals interleukin-1beta and interleukin-8.  Roridin A, verrucarin A, and T-2 toxin did exactly the same. For reference, one study found much higher interleukin-8 levels in acne-covered skin than average.

TWO – 1987 study which analysed another thrichothecene mycotoxin (a dangerous and healthy studied group) called fusarenon-x. The twist is that the mycotoxin was merely used to create inflammation in the first place – the real goal was testing an anti-inflammatory remedy. Clearly then, its inflammatory powers are well established.

THREE – in human nasal cells, exposure to ochratoxin A massively increased both interleukin-6 and interleukin-8, two of the classic inflammatory chemicals behind acne. The scientists concluded that “the ubiquitous mycotoxin OTA has a strong pro-inflammatory effect… in nasal mucosa” (2012 study).

FOUR – this time, scientists discovered that OTA specifically increased the activity of NF-KappaB and COX2, a pair of of inflammatory master molecules which control dozens of smaller inflammatory chemicals. They concluded that “these results confirm the pro inflammatory effect of ochratoxin A by itself” (2008 study).

FIVE – after treating white blood cells with aflatoxin B for 72 hours, the pro-inflammatory and indeed pro-acne chemical IL-6 rose substantially. Meanwhile, the anti-inflammatory chemical interleukin-10 fell (2009 study).

SIX – after applying aflatoxin B to rat liver cells, their TNF-a, IL-6 and Il-8 levels all shot upwards (2014 study). As they put it: “the liver from the AFB1-treated rats showed over expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines”.

SEVEN – once again, stimulating rat immune cells with ATB resulted in higher interleukin-6 and IL-1beta levels (2003 study).

There’s great evidence that the two most common mycotoxins in foods increase bodily inflammation massively. Without inflammation, your skin pores never swell up, redden, and transform into acne. Chronic inflammation is the joint biggest villain in acne alongside antioxidant deficiencies.

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We can’t be sure precisely how mycotoxins cause chronic inflammation, but given how toxic and carcinogenic they’re confirmed to be, in kidneys, liver and brain alike, it’s likely that your immune system identifies them as an automatic threat and increases its activity to destroy them.

 

Mycotoxins are linked to oxidative stress

Firstly, oxidative stress is defined as when your body is overrun with acne-causing, glow-snatching free radicals.

Deactivating them depletes your precious antioxidants – including vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin A, glutathione and superoxide dismutase. All antioxidants are vital for clearing acne, as they prevent the delicate sebum (oil) on your face from destabilising.

Furthermore, some have important side gigs; vitamin C lowers stress hormones like cortisol while vitamin A decreases your sebaceous gland activity.

It seems that mycotoxins are a chief villain behind oxidative stress: 

ONE: after several weeks of continuous aflatoxin B1 feeding, a group of rats had significantly elevated bloodstream radicals. Meanwhile, superoxide dimutase fell sharply, one of the body’s main homemade antioxidants (2015 study).

TWO: this review analysed many of aflatoxin B1’s side effects, and concluded that “oxidative stress… may be one of the underlining mechanisms for AFB1-induced cell injury and DNA… damages”.

THREE: exposing cells to ochratoxin A led to a surge in reactive oxygen species (2002 study), accompanied by a massive depletion of glutathione levels. Glutathione is the main antioxidant which your body manufactures itself – it’s completely different to vitamin E. Acne patients are notoriously deficient in glutathione.

FOUR – after 14 days, OTA substantially increased oxidative stress in the kidneys of rats. Furthermore, there was a 44% decline in glutathione levels. That’s a colossal reduction in acne-clearing antioxidants, and underlying the connection further, adding the tomato antioxidant lycopene defended against the OTA’s damage (2013 study).

FIVE – in rats, ochratoxin A increased almost all parameters of oxidative stress, particularly serum malondialdehyde, an important lipid peroxide (free radical formed from fat tissues). Another mycotoxin, fumonisin B-1, also increased oxidative stress when combined with OTA (2007 study).

SIX – once again, feeding ochratoxin A to rats significantly increased their bloodstream lipid peroxides. The scientists commented that increasing lipid peroxides could easily explain the other dangers of OTA (1988 study).

SEVEN: instead of ochratoxin A itself, this 1999 study found that by-products produced during the digestion of OTA led to increased free radical generation.

The evidence that mycotoxins increase the oxidative stress behind acne is rock solid. There’s at least 10 other studies which I didn’t include here (mainly because 7 is the magic number). 

Creating lipid peroxides is especially bad for acne, because the all-important vitamin E and vitamin A are their main biological scavengers. It’s also telling how ochratoxins and aflatoxins are so strongly linked to cancer. Mycotoxins aren’t toxic to genes (genotoxin), which always confused cancer scientists, but when they noticed the vast swarms of free radicals, it all started to click.

 

Are mycotoxins a real culprit behind acne?

It’s clear that mycotoxins have the power to worsen acne, but what’s lucky is that levels are tiny even in the most contaminated foods.

For example, one European study found that among Spanish people, ochratoxin A intake from foods was just 3% of the European Food Safety Authority’s safe limit. Another study on Europeans found that drinking 4 cups of coffee per day contributed only 2% of the WHO’s daily exposure limit.

The coffee wasn’t pristine quality either; it was a simple cup that any caffeine-loving worker might enjoy at the local drive through.

The truth is that mycotoxins are unavoidable; one study found that nearly 100% of humans tested had mycotoxins flowing through their blood. However, they’re generally in such low levels that they’re totally safe for acne. Mycotoxins are only a problem in severe cases of contamination, e.g., dirt cheap coffee, or chocolate sourced from corrupt cocoa farmers with dodgy drying practises.

When it comes to pesticides, for example, I certainly don’t recommend following the advice of health bodies like the FDA blindly. Look at the acne-causing menace BPA. For years, they insisted that the small amounts in milk bottles were safe, before reality hit home when said children grew up with far low IQ scores. What’s more, the real danger is often the cumulative effect of numerous chemicals, found across food, cosmetics and tap water.

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That said, there are no studies I know of suggesting harm from low levels of mycotoxins. You evolved your detoxification systems for a very good reason. Almost all plants have natural defensive toxins, including glycoalkaloids in potatoes, tomatine in tomatoes, and oxalates in sweet potatoes. Yet those foods are still healthy because your detoxification system is constantly ticking away.

Secondly, many of the classic mycotoxin foods are packed with acne nutrients that counteract the damage.

In this study, scientists fed rats either ochratoxin A, or OTA combined with vitamin E, vitamin A and vitamin C. The nutrients totally negated the oxidative stress. Likewise, this study discovered that catechin antioxidants from tea blunted the harm from mycotoxins nicely.

Because mycotoxins cause acne largely through oxidative stress, flooding your skin with antioxidants can basically make you immune to them.

Coffee, for example, is statistically second for mould contamination, yet is also the average American’s single biggest antioxidant source. Antioxidants more widely were found to be protective in this study, and in this study and this study, tomatoes and liquorice protected against the glutathione depletion caused by ingesting mycotoxins.

As long as the food is packed with other antioxidants and acne nutrients, it’s hard to see how mycotoxins could make an impact. The menacing experiments above all used isolated mycotoxins, not foods containing them.

Remember; you should always judge a food as its whole rather than by one isolated compound. 

 

The lowdown on mycotoxin contaminated foods

Over the last decade, scientists have gone berserk in investigating all the classic mycotoxin foods, and you can read the fruits of their efforts below. Generally, I don’t advise acne patients to worry about mycotoxins, but it is smart to avoid the rare foods which are seriously contaminated:

Coffee – coffee is most notoriously covered with ochratoxin A and fusarium mycotoxins. Coffee beans growing at humid, low altitude locations are more susceptible to mycotoxin mould overgrowth. However, the reassuring studies we discussed earlier speak for themselves., and here’s three more…

ONE: 20 of 60 green coffee bean samples from Brazil contained ochratoxin A at low levels (2003 study).

TWO: just 8 out of 30 roasted coffee contained ochratoxin A, and far higher contamination rates were observed in chillies (2013 study).

THREE: of 40 coffee brews made from commercially available coffee beans, only 18 contained ochratoxin A (1995 study).

Contamination is hardly rampant. Even when mycotoxins are present, the levels are far too tiny to cause acne, and coffee’s antioxidants will surely outweigh them, as will special compounds like kahweol and cafestol.

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Furthermore, modern day coffee farmers are well aware of the mycotoxin problem. Coffee is ow assigned a quality score which is partially based on the mycotoxins count. Contaminated beans are either discarded or sold on for dirt cheap, totally unprofitable prices. Hence, farmers now use special techniques like wet processing, which were shown here to reduce mycotoxin levels substantially.

Roasting coffee beans reduces the mycotoxin levels by between 42 and 55%, according to this study. Another study found 69.93% falls after 2.5 to 10 minutes of roasting. Remember that roasting doesn’t destroy the mycotoxins themselves, but rather the moulds that produce them.

The only serious mycotoxin reservoirs are instant, decaffeinated coffee brands. Instant coffee is typically made from the cheapest, lowest quality beans around, which is cheap specifically because of mycotoxins lowering their quality.

Meanwhile, decaffeinated coffee is made from cheap, discarded beans which are relegated to “decaf duty”. Caffeine has strong antifungal effects; it’s a natural antibiotic which protects coffee beans from poisonous moulds and disease.

For acne-friendly decaffeinated coffee, a more expensive brand is a must. Price alone does not indicate quality, but it’s an excellent pointer. Buy a young coffee brand as well, for on older beans, the mould has much longer to take control.

Cocoa – handling is key with cocoa. Some beans will always get contaminated, but this can spread to healthy beans rapidly if the infected ones aren’t discarded.

All standard chocolate products have to be fermented first, both to reduce toxins like lectins and to craft the perfect chocolatey flavour we all know and love.

However, this also introduces moisture levels of around 40-50%, a perfect oasis for moulds to breed in. The most prominent strain is aspergillus flavus. Compared with coffee, cocoa is a safe haven for aflatoxin B1 and also cyclopiazonic acid (CPA). Apparently, 64.1% of a.flavus moulds produce aflatoxins and 34.2% produce CPA.

Next, the cocoa beans are sundried to bring the beans back down to 6-7% moisture. This usually takes a week, but in damp and cloudy weather conditions, it can take four. Mycotoxin moulds have a low tolerance for dryness, so the longer this sun-drying procedure takes, the greater their opportunity.

Furthermore, cocoa beans are often dried on wooden platforms, a source of the mycotoxin-producing fungi inoculum. Some producers sun dry cocoa in very thin layers, which encourages mould multiplication by increasing oxygen levels and destroying antifungal acids in the bean like acetic acid.

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In short, the opportunities for cocoa beans to get infected are plentiful. The mycotoxins do end up in the chocolate bar you eat. However, it’s an identical situation to coffee; while one study found that 50% of cocoa beans contained ochratoxin A after sun drying, the levels in each were very low. In fact, 50% was a high outlier; most studies find less than 20%.

Like with coffee, roasting cocoa beans decreased the mycotoxin levels by 24.40% in one study, and by 17% in another. One study from 2002 concluded that cocoa products contribute just 5% of total European ochratoxin exposure.

Furthermore, cocoa beans are also winnowed to remove the cocoa bean shell (the testa), the place where many fungal strains concentrate, particularly ochratoxin A. In finished cocoa nibs and chocolate, a maximum of just 1-1.5% testa residue is allowed. Mechanical shelling removes 48% of the OTA and hand shelling removes between 50 and 100%.

The best cocoa product then? Almost all are safe, but mycotoxin regulations are stricter in Europe compared to the USA, meaning that brands like Lindt are very clean. Raw chocolate is usually more contaminated as it isn’t roasted, but is still fermented (contrary to popular belief). The country of origin is also important, with Ivory Coast and Nigerian cocoa beans having the highest mycotoxin counts…

…but even in those circumstances, top quality dark chocolate (85% plus is best) is almost certainly safe for acne. Cocoa powder is jam packed with antioxidants, and in this study, cocoa polyphenols were specifically found to defend against mycotoxins.

Peanuts – your strategy here couldn’t be simpler: buy organic peanuts which are completely fresh. Peanuts are notorious for aflatoxin contamination if improperly handed. Like cocoa or coffee, they’re generally free from moulds when produced by reputable farms. The exact same concept applies to peanut butter.

Wine and beer – a confirmed but insignificant source of mycotoxins. In this study, 30 beers and 30 wines were analysed, bot only 5 and 2 samples respectively contained mycotoxins. The levels were tiny too. Note that beer isn’t a perfect beverage for acne, but is safe in moderation; alcohol itself is the same.

 

Conclusion

If you’re a proud coffee addict or a chocoholic in constant rehab then you can rest easy. Mycotoxins are nothing to worry about for acne as long as you dodge the most downmarket products.

The only serious worry is hypersensitivity. The symptoms can be almost anything (including acne), but the classics are fatigue, a dry mouth, brain fog, chronic pain, and digestive discomfort. These symptoms can occur instantly after drinking contaminated coffee and only vanish after banishing the culprits forever.

Luckily though, humans and moulds have co-existed for million of years, and our bodies are genetically adapted to processing them. Your odds of being hypersensitive are very slim.

There’s one final strategy to remember: building up your bodily defences. By eating more fruits and vegetables, mycotoxins will make nary a dent in your antioxidant stocks. The same concept applies if you declare an all-out war on chronic inflammation elsewhere, by getting more zinc, sleeping soundly, and eating garlic.

Ochratoxin A might deplete glutathione, but by taking selenium, you’ll have far higher glutathione levels than the average acne sufferer anyway. 

NEXT: get the full skin-clearing diet and wave acne goodbye forever

 

Thanks for reading!