Aflatoxin

Sometime last year my former landlord was talking about how toxic mold grows on peanuts and he won't eat peanut butter because it's carcinogenic. I paid little attention, figuring no one in the world has eaten more peanut butter than me and I'm still alive. But the thought popped into my head recently and I decided to do a little research. According to Dr. Weil, it's true: aflatoxin is a naturally occuring toxin produced by a certain kind of mold that grows on, among other things, peanuts. Great.

Apparently the mold that produces aflatoxin does not grow in dry climates (at least according to this blog post.) Therefore, peanuts grown in a dry climate, ie Valencia peanuts, probably do not have this mold. Arrowhead Mills makes peanut butter using Valencia peanuts, yet they make no claims of being aflatoxin-free. Not surprising, as the legal implications of making such a claim probably made the Arrowhead Mills lawyers faint.

I haven't been eating peanut butter at all lately, which is unusual for me, but I have no problem switching over to peanut butter made with Valencia peanuts while I do more research on this. I'm inclined to believe the Valencia peanuts thing, but I'd like to find a few more sources confirming it rather than relying on a single random website.