How Does Mold Make You Sick? 5 Gut Symptoms Explained

Author's Bio: Katie Bailey, MS, RD, LD, FNC

Did you know that mold exposure has been linked to gut issues that mimic symptoms of IBS?

And sometimes people don't even realize that the root cause could be mold in their environment. Mold exposure doesn't just cause allergy like symptoms. It can actually change the way that your gut functions.

Certain species of mold produce mycotoxins, which are toxic substances that were once studied as potential biological weapons because of how powerfully they can affect human health if they're that toxic at high amounts. Imagine what low level daily exposure could be doing inside your body, especially in the gut. In today's video, we're diving into how mold makes us sick, how the gut is impacted, and five gut symptoms that could be caused by mold.

So let's jump right in.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

Understanding Mold and Its Impact on the Body

Mold is a type of fungus that thrives in damp, humid environments. Think basements, bathrooms around leaky pipes, and even in air conditioning systems. While some molds are relatively harmless, others release spores and mycotoxins into the air, and when you breathe them in or you ingest them through contaminated food, they don't just stop at your lungs.

Your immune system sees mold and mycotoxins as invaders. This is going to spark inflammation and can overwhelm your detoxification pathways like your liver and your gut. And since your gut is central to nutrient absorption, immunity and mood regulation, mold exposure can really throw things off. Balance and mold is more than an environmental problem. It's a biological stressor that affects multiple systems in your body at once.

How Does Mold Make You Sick?

The concern isn't just the mold that you see, but the invisible mycotoxins that they release. These toxins challenge the immune system, overwhelm your detox pathways, and can disrupt the gut microbiome. For people with a genetic susceptibility to mold or nutrient deficiencies, this mold exposure can build up faster.

And since over 70% of your immune system resides in the gut, we often see that mold exposure can cause digestive symptoms first before other symptoms.

5 Gut Symptoms Linked to Mold Exposure

Now that we understand how mold impacts the body, let's break it down into the 5 symptoms that you're most likely to notice.

Gas and Bloating

The first one is gas and bloating. So mycotoxins can directly alter the gut microbiome disrupting the balance of good and bad bacteria, leading to what we would call dysbiosis. These changes can impair normal fermentation and digestive processes leading to gas and bloating. Mycotoxins also compromise the gut lining by damaging cells and increasing inflammation. This can reduce the gut's ability to regulate fermentation and motility leading to things like stagnation and gas accumulation.

So next I'm going to explain 4 more symptoms, but first, I'm Katie Bailey. I'm a gut health dietitian at Oswald Digestive Clinic, where we help individuals improve and resolve their bothersome gut issues. If you're interested in learning more about gut health, I'll link our free guide Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health here. All right, let's get started.

Diarrhea

The next symptom is diarrhea. So mold and mycotoxins irritate that intestinal lining triggering inflammation. Now, this excessive inflammation can speed up how quickly food moves through the digestive tract, and the result is loose stools and frequent diarrhea. This rapid transit time means your body doesn't get the chance to properly absorb its nutrients over time. This can lead to nutrient deficiencies, fatigue, as well as a weakened immune system.

Constipation

The third symptom is constipation. Interestingly, mold can also cause the opposite effect. So in some people, mycotoxins disrupt the gut brain in access, so the communication between your nervous system and your digestive system. When this signaling slows down peristalsis, which is that wavelike motion in your intestines, that moves food down, that can become sluggish. Now, on top of that, chronic inflammation from mold can affect bile flow from the liver and the gallbladder, which makes stool harder and more difficult to pass. Now, constipation caused by mold often feels resistant, meaning you're drinking plenty of water, eating plenty of fiber, but you still struggle.

Food Sensitivities and Leaky Gut

Number four is food sensitivities and leaky gut. So one of the most damaging effects of mold on the gut is its ability to damage the gut lining. So normally your gut lining is a tight woven net that allows nutrients in, but prevents harmful substances from getting into the bloodstream. Mycotoxins will weaken the tight junctions that are between your cells and cause what's called as increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut. Now, this allows food particles that are undigested toxins, bacteria to leak into the bloodstream, and that's going to cause your immune system to target those as threats and mount a defense. This will lead to food sensitivities, chronic inflammation or systemic inflammation, as well as autoimmune conditions. That's why mold exposed individuals will often react to foods that they used to tolerate, and the problem isn't the food, it's the compromised gut barrier.

Nausea

The last symptom I want to talk about today is nausea. So mold exposure can cause persistent nausea, even if you haven't eaten any questionable foods. This happens because mycotoxins can inflame the gut lining and disrupt the signaling between your brain and your gut via the vagus nerve, which is the main communication line between your gut and your nervous system. When this signaling is disrupted, your brain can misinterpret normal digestive processes as a threat, which can lead to the feeling of nausea or queasiness over time. This can lead to reduced appetite, unintended weight loss, and malnutrition if not addressed.

What to Do if You Suspect Mold Exposure

So if you're experiencing one or more of these symptoms, the next big question is what do you do about it?

So the first number one thing is going to be to identify and remove the exposure. So you cannot heal if you're constantly being re-exposed. So that may mean check in for any hidden leaks, any musty smells, or even getting a professional mold inspector into your home or workplace to see if you are being constantly exposed to mold.

The next thing is to reduce your overall toxic burden by supporting your detoxification pathways, so including nutrients like glutathione or NAC milk thistle or B vitamins to really support your liver through the detoxification pathways. Once you reduce your exposure or eliminate your exposure and help your detoxification pathways, the next thing is to repair that gut lining that was damaged. So using targeted nutrients like L-glutamine and collagen allo, zinc carnasine, all those can be beneficial to help heal that gut lining.

Another thing that would be helpful is anti-inflammatory foods, as that's going to help to decrease inflammation in the gut as well. Next is to rebalance the microbiome. And if you're really struggling with mold, I would highly recommend working with someone to help you do this so they can determine what probiotics might be beneficial, but also if you need any antifungal support as well.

And then lastly, support the whole body. So managing your stress levels, getting adequate sleep, making sure you have the right nutrients on board, or no nutrient deficiencies because we know that mold affects the entire body. All the different systems in your body are going to be affected, so you want to really work on whole body healing as well as gut healing.

Final Thoughts

So let's recap. Mold exposure challenges our immune system, our detoxification pathways, as well as our gut microbiome all at once. The five symptoms to be aware of are gas and bloating, diarrhea, constipation, food sensitivities, brought on by leaky gut and nausea. The solution isn't symptom relief, it's root cause resolution. So removing the exposure, supporting your detoxification pathways, healing the gut lining, rebalancing the gut microbiome, and supporting our whole body. Now, if you've been chasing digestive symptoms and finding no answers, consider this. It may not be what's on your plate, but maybe what's growing in your environment.

That's it for today's video. If you like this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more nutrition videos. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions. And if you're interested in working with our clinic, you could click the link here to schedule an appointment. We do take insurance. You can find more information about that on our website.

Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.

If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic.  We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.

Or you can just start by downloading our FREE GUIDE: 5 WAYS TO IMPROVE GUT HEALTH  

Curious about what type of gut you have? Take our Free Quiz now!