Zearalenone

Zearalenone, or “zear” is another common and dangerous mold to avoid. Like its cousin aflatoxin, zear is often found in commercial cereal grains and processed foods such as popcorn, corn chips, and brown rice. Zear can lower your immunity, just as aflatoxin does. It furthermore keeps your body from being able to detoxify benzene, which Dr. Clark says is
common in AIDS sufferers. In addition, this mold is linked with estrogendependent
diseases, including breast cancer.

Another mycotoxin, zear is an anabolic and estrogenic metabolite. The mold appears as extra estrogen in animals’ bodies. Many animal studies have shown this mold to have negative impacts on reproductive health, such as infertility and in-utero death.

But such negative effects are not limited to animals. Even beyond breast cancer, Dr. Clark found in her research that zear speeds up the maturing process in females, and could cause PMS, ovarian cysts, and infertility. In males, even small amounts of zear ingested daily could dramatically affect maturation. Whether the toxin stimulates additional estrogen to develop or functions just like estrogen is not yet clear.

High heat is not effective when it comes to purging foods of zear. If your immunity is compromised or you experience any of the other effects noted above, Dr. Clark advises going off moldy food suspects that may contain zear right away.