Modern Building Science Concentrates Toxins, Overwhelming Health Defenses

Key Quotes

"An estimated 70% of U.S. homes contain at least one mold species. And, while mold has always been part of our environment, something has shifted. Mold toxicity is showing up more often, more intensely, and in ways past generations simply didn’t experience."

Dhru Purohit explains that while mold has always existed, current environmental and lifestyle factors have amplified its impact. This shift means mold toxicity is now a more prevalent and severe issue than in previous generations.

"First and foremost when you look at how molds affect the system and then you add to that glyphosate and you add to that pcbs and you add to that bpa and you add to that other environmental toxicants for instance glyphosate and mold toxins when you look at their physiological impacts they're actually very very very similar they they actually cause harm harm the microbiome they hit the gastrointestinal tract they hit the liver and the detox pathways they they affect the nervous system."

Dr. Pejman Katiraei argues that the combined effect of mold toxins and other environmental toxicants like glyphosate, PCBs, and BPA creates a synergistic negative impact on the body. These substances share similar physiological effects, particularly on the microbiome, gut, liver, and nervous system.

"So we've got that we also have drywall so it turns out that up until the 1950s us homes and most homes in north america were built with plaster plaster is basically concrete which actually happens to be resilient to mold so if plaster gets wet it doesn't get moldy as quickly not to say there weren't mold issues in the old homes there were still mold issues for sure it turns out that drywall because drywall is basically paper paper and calcium carbonate i think as sandwiched together paper that's in drywall comes from tree bark it turns out that tree bark actually has mold spores in the bark and it turns out that drywall has some amount of mold spores actually just built into it so when you add water to drywall you can quickly get mold contamination because as soon as that drywall gets wet presuming you don't have the fancy moisture old resistant you know green drywall or whatever they are but most common drywall once that sucker gets wet it can develop mold contamination quite easily within a few days."

Dr. Katiraei highlights a change in building materials as a contributing factor to increased mold issues. He explains that older homes built with mold-resistant plaster are less susceptible to mold growth when wet, unlike modern drywall, which is paper-based and can quickly become contaminated with mold spores when exposed to moisture.

"My observation is that all of these toxicants create that load but that load is not yet enough to break the system now when you add the 500 pound gorilla on top of that load all of a sudden the systems that were still functioning you know they had some vulnerability the microbiome wasn't perfect but it wasn't falling apart the gastrointestinal tract was maybe a little off but nothing bad the mycotoxins when the exposure is high enough long enough especially early enough that's like the 500 pound gorilla that comes in and sits on that load and then suddenly breaks it."

Dr. Katiraei uses the analogy of a "500-pound gorilla" to explain how mold toxins can overwhelm the body's existing defenses. He posits that while other environmental toxins create a baseline stress, high or prolonged exposure to mycotoxins acts as the critical factor that breaks down bodily systems that were already vulnerable.

"I want to stress test you know what you just shared from the audience's perspective go for it right when a lot of people who are world class in their field come on this podcast and talk about you know their unique sort of area that they're known for treating in this case you're working with kids and mold right and you have really developed a deep expertise there clinically and have a good understanding of like the literature and what's there and then somebody else next week comes on and talks about something else let's say like mouth breathing a lot of times the audience hears that this one area heavy metals uh in this case mold in another case sugar in another case this is the reason that they're having parent or child these unexplained issues."

Dhru Purohit raises a point about how listeners might contextualize the information presented, noting that many experts on the podcast highlight specific issues like mold, heavy metals, or sugar as the primary cause of health problems. He questions how to balance these singular explanations with the body's overall exposure to various insults.

"In my 14 years of experience as an integrative pediatrician nothing has caused a greater concern as mold again if we zoom out we see again for the population as a whole for most kids the biggest issues are going to be obesity not that mold can't play a role in that type you know type two diabetes you know aka what was used to be called you know juvenile diabetes etc so those things are still there but again we're talking about healthier families whose kids have tried and the families have tried the parents have tried a lot of different things that's still not working for them and this is where you're like uh you know you're a clinician that's kind of like waving their hands and a doctor's waving their hands and saying guys listen i don't know how bad this issue of mold is but i can tell you it's a lot worse than what we thought it was we need to pay attention to this a lot more than what we're doing currently in our treatment protocols."

Dr. Katiraei states that in his 14 years as an integrative pediatrician, mold has become his greatest concern, particularly for healthier families whose children have not responded to other interventions. He emphasizes that mold is a more significant issue than commonly recognized and warrants greater attention in current medical treatment protocols.