Hi everyone I'm Monica Reinagle and you're listening to the nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

Today's show was inspired by an email from Nicky who wrote, No matter how hard I try,

I can't stop a thin film of black mold

from growing inside my sports water bottle. I take it apart and let

it dry after every use and I scrub it about once a month, yet the mold always shows up in the hard

to reach places. Is this type of mold bad for me and

how much of it is safe to ingest? Well the quick answer to Nicky's question is

ew. But here's a more complete answer on mold and your health.

First, what is mold exactly?

Mold is a kind of fungus, which is a special class of microscopic living organisms that are neither plant nor animal nor even bacteria.

Other types of fungi include mushrooms, yeast, and truffles, many of which are not only edible, but delicious.

There are lots of different kinds of mold, up to a hundred thousand unique types,

and the vast majority are harmless. Some molds, such as the types used to grow penicillin or to make

certain gourmet cheeses, are beneficial. But there are a few kinds of mold, estimated to be fewer

than a hundred, which are toxic.

And the problem with the mold on your water bottle is that we don't really know what type it is.

Mold tends to grow in dark, damp environments.

Even though they're microscopic, if you get enough mold spores in one place,

they'll become visible to the human eye,

which means that by the time you see a thin black film on your mouthpiece,

there are a lot of spores present. Chances are good that the mold's growing on your sport

bottle are some of the harmless ones, but why take a chance? It's not that hard to keep mold

...