
Candida
What is candida?
Fungi - the garbage collectors of dead cells
Candida fungicide resistance
What causes the excess dead cells that candida feed on?
Symptoms of a high dead cell load
Symptoms of candida overgrowth
Causes of candida overgrowth
Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for candida
References
What is candida?
Candida is a yeast, one of over 1000 microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and protozoa) or micro-flora present in the intestines of a healthy person. These natural gut microbes are essential for the healthy functioning of your digestive system. They make vitamins, steroids and fatty acids, break down toxins, help to digest and absorb nutrients, and prevent the overgrowth of yeasts, parasites and bad bacteria.
There are many species of candida and candida-like yeasts, but only about twenty of them cause infections in humans. The most common species is Candida albicans, which can also cause infections in animals. C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, and C. glabrata are together responsible for the majority of cases of candidiasis in humans. Candidiasis is the name given to a fungal infection caused by one of the Candida species.
Candida albicans is a yeast that normally reproduces slowly, in a process called budding. If your gut is healthy, there is lots of competition between the different yeasts, bacteria and fungi, and the candida's reproduction is restricted. However, if the balance of micro-organisms in your gut is upset, the candida can proliferate out of control. An overgrowth of candida is called candidiasis or thrush. The most frequent and damaging cause of candida overgrowth is antibiotics.
Candida thrives in an alkaline environment. Antibiotics kill a lot of the microorganisms in your digestive tract which keep it acidic. A healthy gut is acidic with a pH around 5 or 5.5. Candida thrives in an alkaline environment, and in a serious candida overgrowth infection parts of the gut can go to a very alkaline pH of 11. Ammonia, which is alkaline, is a by-product of candida, so candida assists itself to become even more alkaline. Sugar, stress (high cortisol), and taking antacids also make your digestive tract more alkaline.
Fungi - the garbage collectors of dead cells
Fungi are the garbage collectors of the microbiological world. They feed by secreting digestive enzymes into their surrounding environment, and then absorbing the dissolved organic matter. Fungi decompose and consume dead plants and dead animals, and are the garbage collectors and cleaners in ecological systems. They are abundant everywhere, especially in the soil. Fungi are easily able to digest cellulose (wood), keratin and virtually all other parts of animals that bacteria are not able to break down.
Yeasts are small, single celled members of the fungi kingdom. Yeasts are a normal and healthy component of your gut biome, your skin, and other parts of your body such as your mouth, genitals and nose.
Yeasts feed on sugars, except if the sugars are too pure and concentrated. This is why dry candied, sugar-crystallised fruits, sweets and treats have an almost indefinite shelf life unless they get wet, when yeasts and other types of fungi start to appear. When you eat these sweets they turn into a liquid form in your digestive system, then yeasts can proliferate on the sugar, especially if there is no competition from other microorganisms to keep their numbers down.
A similar argument applies to dry, refined carbohydrates. Dry, white refined flour will last almost indefinitely, as will many of the products made from it. Dry pasta, dry bread, biscuits and cookies, dry snacks and breakfast cereals all have a long shelf life. After they are chewed and turned to liquid in the digestive tract, these simple starches and sugars become food for yeasts.
Yeasts also thrive on dead cells. If you have an overgrowth of yeasts (usually candida) in your body, they may also be dining on decaying cells. The second cause of candida overgrowth is an overload of dead cells coming from somewhere in the body. Before you can eliminate a candida overgrowth, you first have to stop the causes of accelerated cell death.
Candida fungicide resistance
Many species of fungi have evolved resistance to fungicides, in a similar manner that bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics through the overuse of these pharmaceuticals. The overuse of fungicides has not been widely reported in the media, but it is just as serious as the overuse of antibiotics. Fungicides are extensively used in agriculture and gardening, being routinely sprayed on plants. Doctors routinely prescribe fungicides, the most commonly used is fluconazole. (2, 3, 4)
The most common pharmaceutical drugs used to treat candidiasis are:
amphotericin B, echinocandin, voriconazole and fluconazole for systemic infections;
nystatin for oral and esophageal infections;
clotrimazole for skin and genital yeast infections.
Candida auris was first identified in 2009, but seems to be spreading rapidly around the world. It has emerged as the most fungicide-resistant of the candida which infect humans. More than 90% of C. auris are resistant to fluconazole, and they are increasingly resistant to other fungicides such as voriconazole.
C. auris causes severe illness and death in hospitalized patients. It can enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the body, causing serious invasive infections. This yeast often does not respond to commonly used antifungal drugs, making infections difficult to treat. Patients who have been hospitalized in a healthcare facility a long time, have a central venous catheter, or other lines or tubes entering their body, or have previously received antibiotics or antifungal medications, appear to be at highest risk of infection with this yeast.
Specialized laboratory methods are needed to accurately identify C. auris. Conventional laboratory techniques could lead to misidentification and inappropriate management, making it difficult to control the spread of C. auris in healthcare settings.
An outbreak of C. auris in a hospital and other healthcare facility requires thorough, expensive and time-consuming clean-up of the entire facility. A large-scale outbreak would be difficult to control and could spread quickly.
What causes the excess dead cells that candida feed on?
All cells in the body have a finite life. Cells lining the colon or the surface of the tongue only last a day or two before they die and are replaced. Skin cells are replaced every month, and red blood cells have a life of about three months. 98% of your entire body is replaced each year. Autophagy is the normal, healthy process of cellular death and clean up.
Many conditions increase the rate of cell death, or increase the number of dead cells that need cleaning up. A variety of illnesses, recoveries from illnesses, parasites, toxins and pharmaceutical medicines can quickly cause an overload of dead cells. The excess of dead cells causes an overgrowth of yeasts, as dead cells are yeast's primary food.
- Sugar and refined carbohydrates. A continual high blood sugar (glucose) level damages cells and interferes with their repair. The excess sugar usually comes from a high-sugar, high refined carbohydrate diet of processed foods. However, another common source is a diet excessively high in sweet fruits.
- Antibiotics rapidly and indiscriminately destroy bacteria, causing an overload of dead matter needing removal.
- Corticosteroids such as prednisone, cortisone and hydrocortisone are used to suppress the immune system's natural inflammatory healing process. Unfortunately, they also suppress the immune system's normal clean-up of dead, damaged and diseased cells.
- Injury, infection by microorganisms, inflammation and parasites can destroy or damage a significant portion of healthy cells in the body.
- Toxins of all sorts. A lifestyle with a high toxic load causes a heavy load of dead or damaged cells.
Symptoms of a high dead cell load
- Itching, especially on anus or vagina.
- Sores in the mouth, white tongue.
- Sugar craving.
- Feeling tired.
- Bloating.
- Urinary tract infection UTI.
- Sinus congestion, mucus.
- Skin - dermatitis, athlete's foot, jock itch, psoriasis.
- Joint aches.
- Ammonia breath.
- Arthritis.
- Gout.
- Cancers.
- Numerous other autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and fibromyalgia.
Initial symptoms

long-term symptoms
Symptoms of candida overgrowth
- Leaky gut, leading to endless digestive problems including flatulence, bloating and irritable bowel syndrome. Good bacteria provide a protective gut barrier, preventing yeast overgrowth and a leaky gut. Antibiotics kill all the bacteria in your gut indiscriminately - the good and the bad. Candida is a yeast, not a bacterium and so is unharmed by the antibiotics. If you take antibiotics, as the bacteria die off there is little competition and the candida can reproduce rapidly. Candida then changes its method of reproduction, producing tubes or rhizoids. These tubes penetrate your intestinal tissue and blood vessels, exposing your blood to yeasts and the by-products of digestion.
- Low energy, constant tiredness, chronic fatigue. Muscle weakness (as in fibromyalgia) and generalised weakness (as in chronic fatigue syndrome). Often there are aggravating co-factors such as mercury, fluoride accumulation, mycoplasmas and parasites.
- Allergies. With candidiasis you are likely to develop allergies to the foods you eat most frequently. Your immune system sees the partially digested proteins in your blood as invaders (antigens) and responds by forming antibodies. The more you eat those foods, the stronger the sensitivity or allergy reaction. The foods that candida sufferers most commonly react to are wheat, corn, soy and dairy products.
- Fibromyalgia.
- Mineral deficiencies leading to other ailments (very difficult to connect the dots).
- Decreased production of butyric acid and bile salts in the body. Both of these compounds are essential for a healthy and effective digestive system.
- Deficiencies of vitamin B6, biotin and lipoic acid. This causes cataracts, rigidity of muscles, tendons and connective tissue, and wrinkles and aging skin. With candida overgrowth, we age quickly.
- Mental problems such as brain fog, depression, hyperactivity, leading over time to autism, Asperger's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and other mental and movement disorders.
- Chronic fungal infections (often in the vagina as a white paste; in the throat as white patches; between the toes on the nails), or thrush of mouth and tongue.
- Sweet craving. Candia thrives when there is lots of sugar in your gut. People suffering from candida have cravings for sweet foods. Typically they will have a sugar-forming meal, feel good immediately after, but suffer flagging energy an hour or two later. Again, they will reach for something sweet and the cycle continues.
- Alternating diarrhoea / constipation.
- Tartaric acid is a metabolite (by-product) of candida, produced during excessive fermentation. Tartaric acid interferes with the body's ability to produce energy aerobically using glucose. Instead, it produces a fifth of the energy anaerobically by converting glucose into lactic acid. High levels of tartaric acid body cause muscle weakness, leading to tiredness, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, overacidity and mineral deficiency so common with candida infections. This lack of energy also affects the brain, causing mental problems such as brain fog, depression, hyperactivity, autism and schizophrenia.
- Toxins. An overgrowth of candida produces toxins including alcohol and acetaldehyde. The effects of alcohol are well known. It is possible for a teetotaller suffering from candida overgrowth to be drunk most of the time, especially if they are eating lots of fruit and sugars. Many cases of children and adults behaving as if they were drunk have cleared up after removing a candida colony. Candida can be devastating during the early stages of pregnancy, when the foetus is highly susceptible to alcohol.
Acetaldehyde affects brain function, making sufferers feel fuzzyheaded and unable to think clearly. The two toxins can cause mood swings and irrational behaviour. - PMS.
- Muscle and joint pains.
Causes of candida overgrowth
- Antibiotics. Antibiotics are the primary cause.
- Excessive dead biological matter.. An overload of dead cells coming from somewhere in the body.
- High sugar diet. Candida loves sugar, sweet fruit, dried fruit, fruit juice, any other sweet refined foods, grains (wheat in particular) and everything made from the refined flour and products of grains. Remember that food manufacturers add fructose (HFCS) to just about every food they produce nowdays - not just desserts and sweets, but also soups, meats, canned vegetables, everything!
- Vitamin D deficiency.
- Fructose malabsorption.
- Weak digestion.
- Chronic stress.
- Copper deficiency.
- Drugs such as oral contraceptives, antacids and steroids.
- Environmental toxins.
Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for candida
To eliminate candida, you have to do two things:
First, stop fuelling the candida with a high sugar, high refined carbohydrate diet. Eliminate all sugar including sweet fruits, dried fruits, and every food that has sugar added to it. Candida recovery diet.
Second, stop the over-production of dead cells, dead bacteria, and excess waste organic matter. Grow Youthful has plenty of suggestions, depending on what the cause is in your particular case.
- Vitamin D sufficiency.
- Borax. Boron is an effective treatment for candida. It is such a great remedy and health-booster that I recommend taking it regardless of whatever else you are doing. I have been taking it for nearly twenty years and have no bone, joint or muscle stiffness problems (and no candida either!)
- Probiotics. Restore a healthy gut biome, especially after taking an antibiotic.
- A deficiency of sulphur may help candida to flourish. You can get sulphur from sulphur-rich foods like egg yolk, or supplement with DMSO, flowers of sulphur or MSM.
- Apple cider vinegar.
- Garlic.
- Cloves.
- Cayenne.
- Biotin. Sufficient biotin for the body's needs is normally made by bacteria (mainly the bacteroides genus) in the colon. However, if gut bacteria are compromised (often by antibiotics) then it is possible to be biotin-deficient. In this case taking a biotin supplement for a few weeks can help, or eat more biotin-rich foods like swiss chard and other leafy greens, sweet potato, carrots, tree nuts, fish such as salmon and halibut, liver and egg yolks. Avoid raw or soft egg whites, which remove biotin from the body.
- Berberine.
- Pure gum turpentine and kerosene. My preference is pure gum turpentine - choose one of them rather than using both at the same time.
- Colloidal silver. (1)
References
1. Roberto Vazquez-Munoz, Miguel Avalos-Borja, Ernestina Castro-Longoria.
Ultrastructural Analysis of Candida albicans When Exposed to Silver Nanoparticles.
PLoS One. 2014; 9(10). Published online 7 October 2014. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108876. PMCID: PMC4188582. PMID: 25290909.
2. Lockhart Shawn R, Etienne Kizee A, Vallabhaneni Snigdha, Farooqi Joveria, Chowdhary Anuradha, Govender Nelesh P, Colombo Arnaldo Lopes, Calvo Belinda, Cuomo Christina A.
Simultaneous Emergence of Multidrug-Resistant Candida auris on 3 Continents Confirmed by Whole-Genome Sequencing and Epidemiological Analyses.
Clinical Infectious Diseases. 15 January 2017. 64 (2): 134-140. doi:10.1093/cid/ciw691. PMC 5215215. PMID 27988485.
3. Chowdhary et al.
Multidrug-resistant endemic clonal strain of Candida auris in India.
Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 33:919-26.
4. Rudramurthy et al.
Candida auris candi- daemia in Indian ICUs: analysis of risk factors.
J Antimicrob Chemother 2017; 72:1794-801.