Bread poisoning: first symptoms, causes and consequences

The benefits and harms of bread

Currently, you can see a wide variety of breads on store shelves. Bakery products differ in their production method, type of flour used, and shelf life.

Types of flour products:

Rye or black bread. This is the most popular type of baked goods made from rye flour. This type of product contains fewer calories compared to white.
A white variety of bread products. Long loaves, rolls, muffins, buns are most often prepared from wheat flour.
Gray bread. This option is considered the healthiest and is recommended for dietary purposes. Gray baked goods are baked from a mixture of rye and wheat flour.
Bran bread is made from a mixture of bran and flour.
Yeast-free bread products are made by using sourdough starter rather than yeast. This bread is more beneficial for the body than yeast bread.
Whole grain rolls are made from wholemeal flour, which is why baked goods contain a large amount of fiber.

Nutritionists believe that bread contains all the amino acids and vitamins necessary for humans. The benefits of baked goods directly depend on their composition - white loaves of useful substances contain a minimal amount, since in the process of obtaining premium flour, the bulk of vitamins and minerals are lost.

Wholemeal bread is considered the most beneficial for the body - it is quickly digested by the digestive system, contains the maximum amount of nutrients and a minimum of calories.

Don't forget about the beloved bread crust. It is not only tasty, but also healthy. The crust contains antioxidants that help prevent sclerosis and cancer. When choosing bread products, it is better to give preference to loaves with a dark brown crust; it is advisable not to buy burnt or undercooked products.

The harm of bread lies not in its composition, but in its excessive consumption. Uncontrolled eating of white loaves can lead to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity.

What is the danger of bread mold poisoning?

Mycotoxins contained in mold can lead to severe food poisoning. The following symptoms appear:

skin rashes;
nausea and vomiting;
pain in the head and stomach;
fast fatiguability;
flatulence and/or diarrhea.

If you inhale a large amount of mold spores, the respiratory system is affected first, so the victim may:

cough heavily;
feel chest pain and nasal congestion;
suffer from shortness of breath;
breathe with whistling and wheezing.

Severe forms of such poisoning can include pneumonia and bronchial asthma.

At one time, when my husband and I were still living with his parents, I endured many battles with my mother-in-law over bread. According to my husband’s mother, a woman of the old school, throwing away moldy bread is a terrible sin. It should simply be cut off and placed on the dining table for further consumption. As a big fan of programs about a healthy lifestyle, I was already aware of the dangers of mold and secretly threw away bread with mold. In turn, the mother-in-law noticed this and decided that she would dry the spoiled loaf into breadcrumbs or feed it to pigeons. When my father-in-laws went to live in the country in the summer, I found such “gifts” with greenery and threw them away so that the bird population did not decrease.

With frequent consumption of bread contaminated with mold, even people with a strong immune system can develop mycoses - various diseases caused by parasitic types of fungus. One of the most dangerous forms of the disease is aspergillosis, the occurrence of which is provoked by the Aspergillus fungus. This pathology exists in different variations, the most dangerous of which can even lead to death. At risk are people whose immunity is subjected to artificial suppression (during organ transplantation, treatment of cancer), as well as patients with severe diseases of the respiratory organs - asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, sarcoidosis.

Pulmonary aspergillosis is caused by molds of the genus Aspergillus

The harm of stale bread

Many people remember the taste and smell of fresh bread from childhood. Unfortunately, today it is rarely possible to find such bakery products on store shelves. Recently, you can increasingly hear about bread poisoning. Why is this happening?

Causes of poisoning:

Use of poor quality flour in bread production. Flour containing potato sticks is considered hazardous to health. Such loaves are easy to identify: inside the bun, instead of crumb, there is a sticky mass with a sweet aftertaste.
“Drunk bread” often causes food poisoning. To bake such bread, flour contaminated with fungus was used, which manufacturers buy in order to save money.
Failure to comply with sanitary and epidemiological requirements in the production of bakery products. Bakers do not always have health certificates, rodents can roam in the workshops, and equipment is not handled properly.
Many manufacturers add large amounts of preservatives to increase the shelf life of bread. Chemicals can cause allergies and food poisoning in children and adults.
Improper storage of bread in warehouses and stores causes mold to appear on the surface of the product. Bread mold is microorganisms that are present on baked goods of poor quality.

Bread poisoning can be avoided - when purchasing, you need to pay attention to the appearance of the product, production time and storage conditions.

Is it possible to eat uninfected neighboring areas of bread?

When purchasing a new loaf, a fungal coating is sometimes discovered the very next day. It’s a shame to throw away a whole loaf of bread, so some people think that it’s acceptable to cut off the affected area and then eat the edges where there is no harmful fungus.

Doctors prohibit doing this, claiming that spores spread over fairly large distances without being seen. If only one area of a loaf or loaf is affected by plaque, you can be sure that the spores are on top of the entire product. This explains why doctors recommend throwing away the entire loaf rather than cutting off the affected area .

Once in the body, mold produces a mycotoxin, small amounts of which are truly harmless to health and are easily neutralized by the liver. With significant consumption of fungal-contaminated products, negative consequences will quickly appear: among them, infection of the respiratory tract, the ability to inhibit beneficial microflora.

If a person has eaten moldy bread once, it is enough to take sorbents. In case of regular (here you can use the term “chronic”) poisoning with moldy bread, you need to be wary of the following reactions:

the appearance of problems with the liver: disruption of the functioning or structure of the organ, up to cirrhosis;
signs of damage to the gastrointestinal tract caused by an abundance of mycotoxins;
Mold toxins promote cell mutation, significantly increasing the likelihood of malignant formations.

Mild manifestations are common after mold enters the body: unexpected allergic reactions, breathing problems, sudden dermatitis. With regular poisoning, the severity of such pathologies increases, up to anaphylactic shock or Quincke's edema. People with a tendency to allergic reactions should definitely throw away a spoiled loaf.

In the ratio of harm and benefit from consuming mold, the harm always outweighs. One of the positive aspects is the ability of mold fungi to produce a substance with an antibacterial effect, which is comparable to pharmaceutical antibiotics. Actually, this is where the positive aspects end. So if you need to take a course of penicillin, go to a good doctor, not a bad baker.

Time lapse from YouYube channel Movie Vertigo

Signs and symptoms and intoxication

Bread poisoning belongs to the category of food intoxication with characteristic symptoms.
Signs of poisoning:

Nausea, vomiting.
Pain syndrome in the abdominal area.
Diarrhea, flatulence.
Headache, dizziness, muscle weakness.
Reduced blood pressure.
Dehydration. Symptoms of dehydration include pale skin, dry mouth, and a rare urge to urinate.

Most often, poisoning from baked goods occurs due to mold appearing on their surface. Many people cut off the spoiled crust, thinking that this way they are protecting themselves. This is a big misconception; fungal spores penetrate deep into the loaf, making it dangerous for humans.

Is mold dangerous on any food?

The ability of mold to grow through different foods varies. It is primarily related to the density of the product and the water content in it. This determines whether it can be eaten after removing mold.

What moldy foods should you avoid throwing away?

The USDA Food Safety Administration states that some foods are safe to eat even if they contain mold.

Raw-cured ham and hard salami. The white shell of some types of salami is actually mold that protects the product from bacteria. The formation of mold on raw-cured ham is also considered normal. These foods can be eaten after removing the mold.
Dense vegetables and fruits: carrots, cabbage, bell peppers. Mold does not spread to the entire product, does not grow deeply, it can simply be cut off.
Blue cheese. Mold can be ignored if we are talking about cheeses in which it is traditionally present.
A hard cheese that is initially produced without mold. As in the case of hard vegetables, the “defeat” can simply be trimmed off with a margin of a couple of centimeters.

What products cannot be saved?

Unfortunately, the list of foods that cannot be effectively trimmed or peeled is much longer. It includes:

bread;
preserves and preserves (fungal toxins can accumulate in the jar and will not go away if visible mold is removed);
soft fruits and vegetables (plums, peaches, tomatoes);
legumes, corn;
soft cheese;
any foods with a high moisture content (there are a huge number of them: meat, bacon, porridge, pasta, yogurt, sour cream, etc.)

After all, some types of mold are not dangerous?

This is true. But it is almost impossible to recognize conditionally harmless mold by eye. Therefore, all mold should be considered harmful by default.

Bread poisoning: first aid and treatment

The patient's condition directly depends on the timeliness of first aid provided.

Stages of assistance in case of poisoning:

Gastric lavage. This procedure should be done when the first symptoms of poisoning appear. The victim should drink a large amount of liquid (a weak solution of potassium permanganate or lightly salted water). Forced vomiting is caused by pressing on the root of the tongue with a spoon or fingers. Gastric lavage should be done until the patient's condition improves.
Reception of sorbents. Activated carbon, Smecta, Polysorb and other drugs allow you to cleanse the stomach of toxins that cause poisoning.
Regidron will help prevent dehydration.
To cleanse the intestines (in the absence of diarrhea), it is recommended to do an enema with a solution of potassium permanganate or chamomile decoction.

First aid will quickly remove harmful substances from the victim’s body and normalize his condition. If the victim’s health worsens, vomiting and diarrhea do not stop, the patient needs urgent hospitalization.

Reasons for hospitalization:

Poisoning from mold on bread occurred in a child, an elderly person or a pregnant woman.
Vomiting does not stop for more than 12 hours.
The patient's blood pressure dropped sharply.
The victim is unconscious.

At the hospital, blood, urine and stool tests are taken from the patient. If necessary, an ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity is performed. After this, doctors begin complex therapy, which includes several stages.

Treatment of poisoning:

Gastric lavage through a tube.
The patient is prescribed enterosorbents.
With the help of enzymes, the functioning of the digestive system is normalized.
Intravenous administration of a physiotherapeutic solution will help restore the body's water and electrolyte balance.
The patient is prescribed medications that help restore beneficial intestinal microflora.

Complex therapy is carried out until all symptoms of poisoning are eliminated.

What to do if you are poisoned by mold?

If a person experiences signs of bread mold intoxication, they should definitely call a doctor. After all, the patient may experience allergic reactions in the form of angioedema or anaphylactic shock, which are life-threatening. Until the doctor comes, they are carrying out some detoxification measures.

So, first of all, they cleanse the stomach. The victim needs to drink up to a liter of purified water in one fell swoop. This will trigger vomiting, which will rid the stomach of remaining spores and toxins. Enemas using plain warm water will also not be superfluous. You definitely need to drink any sorbent. It neutralizes the negative effects of mold and removes it from the body. The most effective drugs in this drug group are the following:

White coal;
Atoxyl;
Polysorb;
Enterosgel;
Smecta.

Drinking plenty of fluids is important. As soon as the gag reflex stops, you need to drink clean water or sweet tea. You should drink often, but in small sips. If the patient has a history of any type of allergy, he should be given the antihistamine he is using. The doctor, in a hospital setting, performs the following procedures:

Droppers for removing toxins and fungal spores from the patient’s body;
Taking enzymes;
Taking antifungal medications;
Taking antiemetics;
Compliance with dietary nutrition.

Consequences and prevention

Complications after bread poisoning can be varied.
Types of consequences of poisoning:

Impaired kidney and liver activity.
Exacerbation of chronic diseases of the digestive system.
Poisoning with “drunk bread” causes dysfunction of the central nervous system.
Dehydration is dangerous for all human organs.

By following certain rules when purchasing and consuming bread, the likelihood of intoxication can be minimized.

Prevention measures:

Carefully study the packaging of the bakery product: it should contain complete information about the manufacturer, date of manufacture, composition, information about the certification of bread.
Buy white bread and other flour products only from trusted retail outlets.
You should not buy bread in large quantities - it is better to go to the store more often and buy only fresh loaves.
The safest option is to store baked goods in wooden bread bins.

Following simple rules will help you avoid an unpleasant disease. If poisoning does occur, do not panic; timely first aid will prevent toxins from spreading throughout the body and causing serious complications.

Why is mold on bread dangerous?

Any mold found on food, except for certain types of hard cheeses, is very dangerous to health. And you don’t have to eat it at all. Just inhale the aroma of moldy bread. Spores of pathogenic microorganisms are in the air and very easily penetrate the body. What happens to the body if you eat a piece of moldy bread?

Black or green mold most often appears on baked goods. The fungus is visible on the crust of the bun. Therefore, many simply cut off the visible area and continue to eat the rest of the bread. Doing this is strictly prohibited. After all, invisible spores fill the entire area of the bread. Serious intoxication may occur if such a product is consumed.

General issues

For those who don't get enough sleep: what foods will give you energy and good mood

If you inhale mold on bread, the risk of developing chronic respiratory diseases increases. Some types of fungus affect the nervous system, blood flow, disrupt hormonal levels, and reduce the body's protective functions. The extent of damage depends on the type of fungus. Also, the duration of inhalation of pathogenic microorganisms is important. It is when inhaled that there is an immediate effect on systems and organs.

So, mold on bread provokes the following symptoms:

Allergic rhinitis;
Skin rash;
Epigastric pain;
Nausea;
Vomit;
Increased fatigue;
Diarrhea.

If you eat mold on bread, signs of poisoning appear within the first 4-50 hours after eating. The symptoms of intoxication are especially pronounced in the elderly, children and pregnant women. In the future, the risk of developing bronchial asthma and chronic bronchitis increases.