Matt Kelly explains that mold toxicity comes from mycotoxins the mold produces, not from the material it grows on. These secondary metabolites travel on spores and fragments, and can affect multiple body systems.
From the mold colony’s mycotoxins (secondary metabolites) carried on spores/fragments — not from the substrate (the material) or from spores alone.
Love this question from Ariel. She's asking, is it mold that's toxic or is toxicity from the material that mold is breaking down? Great question. Love that you're thinking about asking that question about where is the toxicity actually coming from? And if you go all the way back to my Q and A, number one is talking about toxic mold, because I say toxic mold because that's what people refer to it as. That's what people think of it as. Now, the mold's not really that toxic. It's the mycotoxins, that secondary metabolite that comes from the colony and comes out on spores and is emitted into our air and affects our body in so many ways. So, Ariel, the toxic part is coming from the colony itself, from the growth there. And the mycotoxins, they say, are like a. Like an offensive tool for the colony. So if it senses other organic materials, it doesn't like. Like whether it's bacteria or other colonies, mycotoxins are kind of its offense to go out and kill those other things. And we're just innocent bystanders in the middle, breathing in this toxic poison that affects our liver, our kidneys, our neurological system, our immune system, our reproductive system, our. Is just every system of the body to our brain, our eyes, even a bladder. Everything can be affected. And that's the toxic part, is the mycotoxins. It's not necessarily. It's not coming from the product that's breaking down. So if mold's growing on drywall, the toxicity isn't coming from that paper. And it's not the spores themselves. It's the mycotoxins that are grown on the colony and then get released and come up from the colony and. And hitch right on the spores and fragments that get into our breathing zone. And then we take those in and breathe them in as well as the bonus is they can even come in through our eyes, our ears, and absorb through our skin. That's how awful mycotoxins are. But great question, Ariel. I really appreciated that.
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