That morning cup of coffee gives you pep, but a new study found that it might also be giving you mycotoxins, toxic metabolites produced by fungi. Since mycotoxins are carcinogenic to humans, do we now need to worry that a steaming hot pot of coffee is killing us?
C’mon now. Not our coffee!
An analysis of 100 brands of commercially available coffees sold in Spain revealed the presence of these mycotoxins in every sample. Dr. Emilia Ferrer of the University of Valencia in Spain and her colleagues explain that mycotoxins are compounds produced by filamentous fungi – such as Aspergillus or Fusarium – which have been linked to liver cancer and other diseases.