I try to get as much of my carbohydrates as I can from natural sources like fruit and fruit juice.
However, the problem with fruit juice is often the juice is made from moldy or unripe fruit.
Apples are particular problem, and to a lesser extent, tomatoes.
Let’s start with apples.
Apple juice is often made with bad and moldy apples.
Apples that are harvested by picking them off of the ground. Apples that have bruises in them. Apples that have cuts in them.
All these apples attract mold almost instantly.
And one of the toxins in the mold that has been studied since the 1940s is Pat.
Pat is extremely toxic in two parts of the body particularly.
One is the glands including the thyroid gland and the testicles. Presumably in the ovaries as well, although I haven’t found any study on that.
In the second part of the body that Pat affects mainly, is the immune system.
Pat is very immunosuppressive.
Particularly for little kids who consume a lot of apple juice.
The levels of patulin that are allowed in food are regulated now in Europe and the US.
The US allows far higher levels of patulin damages than they do in Europe.
It’s hard to know how much Pat you’re getting when you drink bottled apple juice, or any juice really.
This government survey checked a bunch of foods, and they found the only problem with Pat was in fact in apple juice:
The levels were pretty high here. If you drink a lot of apple juice, this may be a problem.
And, who knows what other mold toxins are in these juices, that aren’t being measured.
I’m cautious with any prepared juices, and actually, with apple juice, I prefer either fresh juice that I can see the apples being pressed or clear store brand apple juice that tends to have lower levels of Pat than cloudy “natural” types.
And…
Be careful with fresh apples and pears
And they are a good reason not to consume an apple or pear that is bruised because the patulin migrates through the fruit so even if you eat a clean part of the fruit, it probably has high levels of patulin in it.
Citations
Biosynthesis and Toxicological Effects of Patulin
http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/2/4/613/htm
Patulin in food
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214799315001289
Patulin in homogenized fruit’s and tomato products
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278528609_Patulin_in_homogenized_fruit’s_and_tomato_products
Click for more information on Patulin in food, for information on Natural Remedies, or for more on Effects of Patulin.