Heather Bedard, C.H.E.
When entering the healthcare arena, you will encounter a lot of fear mongering. Most of it has good intentions, but it leaves people feeling helpless, frustrated, and lied to. When you encounter health claims that sound scary it’s always good to dig a little deeper and ask questions. Many people are concerned about what they’ve heard about coffee and mycotoxins so I thought it would be good to dig into this a little deeper so we can make an informed decision.
We're not going to be talking about the health benefits of coffee necessarily. But for those of you who do drink coffee, I thought there were some really interesting points about how to purchase your coffee. We’ll also cover some of the concerns that people have about coffee in general, when it comes to what it's made from, how it's roasted, and things like that.
The global coffee industry is massive. It rakes in over $100 billion a year. When you see dollar signs like this, you can almost guarantee that you need to be cautious of the product itself and the claims that are made about it...both good and bad. Conventional coffee is among one of the most heavily sprayed and chemically treated foods there are on the planet. You can be assured that if you're buying conventional coffee, that it is being sprayed with lots of different kinds of pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers, and herbicides to keep it growing well. Your conventional coffee is a hybrid that is grown to flourish in the sun instead of in the shade. Most natural coffee is grown in forested areas in the shade. That's where it grows the best. But enter the money…in order to grow the most amount of coffee possible, the grower’s clear fields and plant coffee that can withstand the heat.
I’m sure you’re thinking, “I love my coffee. I don’t want any of that hybrid stuff. What do I do now?” Let’s take a quick look at organic coffee farms. Many of these organic farms are planted in less-fortunate regions of the world and might not be able to afford certification. In other words, you might have a grower that is growing a really good quality, practically organic coffee. They're not using all the pesticides that the other farms are, but they just can't afford to pay for the certification and all the things that they have to do to go through customs to sell it in the United States. These farmers are at a disadvantage because they can’t market to the buyers (like you) that want good quality organic coffee because they can’t afford to.
One thing that you could do to combat this, would be to contact your roaster directly and talk to them about their farms and about how their coffee is grown. You might find that without paying the organic price for a coffee, you'd still be getting an organic coffee that is really good quality. Another thing to keep in mind, and we've talked about this in some of our other videos and articles, is that organic doesn't necessarily mean pesticide free. There are still organic pesticides that are used. There are also 25 synthetic pesticides that are allowed for organic use. I don't know how that makes sense, but according to somebody it does. It's a little bit better for you if you want to think of it that way.
Another benefit to organic or sustainably sourced coffee is that a lot of times, the plants are grown in a way that is much better for the plant. They are typically grown in more shaded environments, just the way that coffee is naturally grown.
One of the major concerns that people have about coffee, and how it's stored, is the growth of mold and mycotoxins. These are very important concerns because nobody wants to be ingesting mycotoxins. One of the things to keep in mind, in this regard, is that your body is actually going to neutralize most of the things that you're taking in that it doesn't want. For most people, unless you're highly sensitive, or your immune system is really low, you're not going to have a big problem with the mycotoxins.
The level of the mycotoxins can be increased due to poor storage practices. That's another thing that you could speak to your local roaster about. Find out how they dry and store their coffee, how long it's on the shelf, and things like that. In general, mycotoxins from coffee are not going to be a massive issue to your body. When the coffee is roasted, it's going to kill about 20% to 55% of the mycotoxins that are on there.[1] That's going to reduce the load of toxins on your body even more. The more caffeine that the beans have, actually inhibits the growth of molds and mycotoxins as well.
There are two types of mycotoxins that are typically found in coffee. The most concerning one is aflatoxin B1. It takes about 1000 milligrams per kilogram to cause aflatoxicosis, something you definitely don't want to have. However, the average daily intake of most people is 1000 nanograms. That's one 1000th of a microgram. Far, far less than anything that would even remotely begin to cause aflatoxicosis. In general, if your body is healthy, and you're not drinking pounds and pounds of coffee, this is not something you need to be worried about. It's highly unlikely that the amount of mycotoxin that is in the coffee that you're drinking day-to-day is going to cause any health issues.
Decaf coffee is a little bit more of a concern because the lack of caffeine will allow mold to grow more. Like I mentioned before, the drying processes can inhibit mold and growth. I would just say, as often as possible, drink organic when you can. You want to support the companies and the growers that are growing your coffee in this way. It's better for the land, it's better for the environment. It might be a little bit more expensive, but remember, they do have to pay for those certifications, and it’s a lot harder to grow the coffee in an organic way. Get to know your local roaster. As always, those are really good relationships to keep up and keep you more informed about where your food is coming from.
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[1] Jallow A, Xie H, Tang X, Qi Z, Li P. Worldwide aflatoxin contamination of agricultural products and foods: From occurrence to control. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2021;20(3):2332-2381. doi:10.1111/1541-4337.12734