Mycotoxin means fungus poison in Latin, and is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of the fungi kingdom, commonly known as molds. The term mycotoxin is usually reserved for the toxic chemical by-products produced by fungi, and one mold species may produce many different mycotoxins, and the same mycotoxin may be produced by several species.

Many people are probably unaware of the effects of the yeast cells on the immune system. Yeast cells are quite complicated and have many thousands of complex reactions both within their own cells as well as with the many millions of cells in their surrounding environment. Just like all other living things, yeast cells need food to live and to multiply, as well as having the ability to produce wastes.

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When yeast is living in your digestive system and in other areas of your body, mycotoxins are released from yeast cells which can then circulate throughout different areas of your body, for example in the circulatory system such as the blood and blood vessels, as well as throughout your digestive system, the stomach, small and large intestines, liver, pancreas, etc., in particular, but they can also travel through the blood-brain barrier and create problems in the brain and affect the way you think and feel.

Several of these individual metabolite components have been identified over time as being toxic to your immune system, causing reactions including a chronic low-grade state of inflammation. And it is these chemical reactions that can literally exhaust your immune system and wreak havoc on your brain, digestive, hormone, musculoskeletal and nervous systems.

Acetaldehyde

In 1986, Dr. Orion Truss wrote about acetaldehyde, a chemical that at toxic levels can make its way into the brain from candida. The consumption of sugar ensures that candida produces acetaldehyde in the digestive tract by way sugar fermentation. Anyone with a yeast overgrowth who also drinks beer, wine, spirits or liqueurs not only produces acetaldehyde from alcohol itself, but also delivers more sugar for the yeast production of acetaldehyde, creating a double-barreled dose. Acetaldehyde produced in the gut eventually reaches more parts of the body and even into the brain, flooding the system and increasing the risk for damage.*

*Truss CO. Metabolic Abnormalities in Patients with Chronic Candidiasis: The Acetaldehyde Hypothesis. J Orthomolecular Psychiatry. 1984; 13(2): 66-93.