What Happens If You Eat Mold?

You've seen it growing on your fruit,

eating your leftovers,

and maybe even hiding in your basement.

This is mold.

It smells bad,

it's creepy-looking,

and even if you don't know much about it,

you probably know enough to keep it

as far away from your mouth as possible.

There are up to 300,000

different types of mold,

and they could affect you

in very different ways.

Some could ruin your day

by causing nausea or diarrhea.

Some could be used to
make expensive cheeses,

and others could nearly kill you!

So how do you know which kind
of mold you're dealing with?

And is it ever okay to just eat
around the mold on your food?

I'm asking for a friend.

Mold is the microscopic
fungi you can find living on

plants, animals,

and even in buildings.

Molds form branches that are
like thin threads called hyphae.

These can burrow into food, something you
might miss since they can be difficult to see.

If you do notice mold growing on your food,

your first question will probably be,

hmm, "should I throw this away?"

So we've put together a little
guide to help you figure it out.

If you find mold on soft foods like yogurts,

jams, peaches, or tomatoes,

you should throw them out right away.

But if you find mold on harder foods like
cheese, carrots, or hard salami,

it's ok to cut the mold out
and eat the rest of your food.

Harder, denser foods are more
difficult for mold to penetrate,

meaning it can’t spread inwards
as quickly as it can in softer foods.

But let's imagine that you didn't have this
handy guide, and you ate some moldy food.

What would happen to you?

Well, the biggest problem
wouldn't be the mold itself.

It's the other things that come along
with the mold that could really hurt you.

First off, there's the invisible
bacteria that can accompany the mold.

If you eat that bacteria you would
experience stomach pain, vomiting,

and several urgent trips to the washroom.

But that would be nothing compared
to the damage that would come

from eating something called mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins are poisonous substances
that are produced by certain strains of mold;

they can be found in a variety of foods,

and can survive almost all
kinds of food processing.

There are many kinds of mycotoxins,
about 500 to be specific.

Perhaps the most dangerous
variety is known as aflatoxin.

Aflatoxin grows on corn and peanuts.

Too much aflotoxin can
cause liver damage, cancer,

DNA damage, and immune system deficiency.

But not all mold is harmful.

In fact, some people
eat mold on purpose.

Take blue cheese, for example;

it's produced using the non-toxic blue molds
penicillium roqueforti and penicillium glaucum.

These molds have anti-bacterial properties
that enable them to suppress pathogens.

They also break down proteins,

which is why blue cheese is
so creamy and has a sharp flavor.

Just like most things on our planet,
there's more to mold than meets the eye.

Sure it can make you sick, but

it's also the key to one of the most
powerful antibiotics of all time:

Penicillin.

Maybe there's another
world-changing innovation

just waiting to be discovered
somewhere in that fuzzy blue mess,

but that's a topic for another WHAT IF.