IBD/Mold discussion on Crohn's forum

Yes mold can cause IBD. It's not the cause for everyone but it's the cause for some. Really anything that causes leaky gut, destruction of the mucosa, immune sensitization to the colonic epithelium, and bowel inflammation can lead to IBD. Mold is one such thing.

I'm not sure what the OP of that thread is talking about with gene activation. There's no evidence that pathogens cause gene activation in the sense that IBD is suddenly activated.

What we know is that the bowel is normally coated in a thick layer of mucus that is composed of gut flora and immune globulins. Organisms don't normally have contact with the bowel epithelium underneath. Some organisms, like mold, parasites, fungus, and pathogenic bacteria eventually wear down this layer and make contact with the lining. Once they do it triggers an immune reaction. If the immune reaction goes on long enough, goblet cells get destroyed and mucus production decreases, so the layer of protection gets smaller and smaller. The flora which inhabit that layer start to disappear as their habitat is destroyed, leaving only the strongest varieties that can weather those conditions. The lining becomes increasingly exposed to new pathogens and the vicious cycle continues.

Some organisms, once they penetrate, stay there and the immune system just can't get rid of them. This is where genetics may play a role. The immune system may have a natural deficiency that can't eject the invader. Another explanation is that the invader is just very resilient, so over time it wears down the immune system, making it ineffectual. A lot of people with "auto-immune" have reduced immune activity over all. The TH1 response switches to TH2 as the immune system gets tired, leading to more crazy inflammation.

With black mold, it would be unusual to have bowel symptoms but no lung symptoms, since its point of entry is usually through breathing. Then you cough and swallow the sputum which contains the mold spores. Everyone I've met who suffered black mold exposure had some level of permanent lung damage that was detectable. They are so sensitive now that they can smell the tiniest bit of mold when they enter a place that has it.

If we're talking about the pathogens most responsible for IBD, I would say fungus has a higher profile than mold.

I've often thought mold could play a role in my UC. I think I consumed tiny amounts of mold continuously without even realizing through my coffee maker. I cleaned it like the instructions said to, but one day I actually took it apart and run several test runs with water and couldnt believe that each cup of water that came out had a few tiny pieces of mold come out with it. Obviously when making coffee, the mold blends in with the coffee. I did a really thorough cleaning and even still do not use it that much anymore.

I guess office machines are the same way since I doubt they are regularly cleaned as I travel to different work clients often.

Its something I've always considered especially since the timing made sense for me. I was wondering if any serious research had been done. Thanks for posting the link.