Yeast overgrowth, called candida, is pandemic today and affects millions. Conservatively speaking, one in three people suffers from yeast-related symptoms or conditions. While women immediately associate candida with vaginal yeast infections, men hear the word fungus and think it's the problem they're having with their toenails. But it's much more.
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| Candida Albicans Disease |
In addition to the conditions I've already named, candida is associated with persistent symptoms like ear and sinus problems, upper respiratory infections, PMS, fibroids, endometriosis, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, acne, and anxiety as well as more severe conditions such as autoimmune diseases, fibromyalgia, lupus, autism, mental illness, and even cancer.
How can yeast be such a significant health factor when so many don't even know about it? Simply because Western medicine continues to quietly ignore the connection between yeast overgrowth and the overuse of prescription drugs, especially antibiotics, and other common offenders, including diet and even the air we breathe.
WHAT IS CANDIDA
Candida albicans is a harmless yeast, a type of fungus, that lives naturally in everyone's body: male, female, and child alike. In a healthy body, it lives symbiotically in a balanced environment in the gastrointestinal tract, on the mucous membranes, and on the skin. Unfortunately, this harmless yeast can overgrow and turn into an opportunistic pathogen.
As Dr. Michael Goldberg states: "Because it is a commensal organism [one that benefits from another organism without damaging or benefiting it] present in virtually all human beings from birth, it is ideally positioned to take immediate advantage of any weakness or debility in the host, and probably has few equals in the variety and severity of the infections for which it is responsible."
Candida overgrowth and its by-products, mycotoxins, can attack any organ or system in your body. The attack is relentless, twenty-four hours a day, until treated. If not arrested, yeast, a single-celled organism, will change form - into a pathogenic fungus with roots that causes myriad symptoms. Throughout the blog, I will be using the words yeast and fungus interchangeably.
This fungus burrows its roots into the intestinal lining and creates leaky gut - porous openings in the gut lining - which allows the fungus and its by-products to escape into the bloodstream. According to an article in the journal Science, "Candida albicans is the most common human systemic pathogen, causing both mucosal and systemic infections, particularly in immunocompromised people." A systemic fungal infection is called candidiasis.
LIFESTYLE FACTORS THAT ENCOURAGE CANDIDA OVERGROWTH
The major causes of Candida albicans overgrowth are antibiotics, steroids (e.g., cortisone and prednisone), birth control pills, estrogen replacement therapy, poor diet, chemotherapy, radiation, heavy metals, alcohol overuse, recreational drugs, and stress. Other contributing factors include heavy metals in our silver amalgam fillings and the lead and cadmium in polluted air. All of the above directly or indirectly destroy the good bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract, allowing yeast to take over.
Yeast overgrowth thrives in the presence of diets high in refined sugars, refined carbohydrates, dairy products, alcohol, processed foods, and hormones secreted as a result of high stress levels. Acute and chronic stress elevates cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands (small glands that sit on top of each kidney). Excessive cortisol, in turn, raises blood sugar. The fungus doesn't care whether the increased sugar in your body is due to eating a candy bar or to having an episode of extreme stress; it will use the sugar as fuel to reproduce itself.
Once an imbalance occurs, yeast continues to multiply as it is fed by sugar in any form - alcohol, desserts, white flour, dairy products like milk and cheese, and elevated sugar levels caused by high stress. As years go by, mild to severe health conditions appear.
It is easy to see why the incidence of candidiasis is so high - the main contributing factors are various mainstream Western medicine protocols, rampant poor diet, and the stress overload so prevalent in our society today.
Western medicine may deny that yeast causes these myriad conditions, but the truth is that fungal toxins - the by-products produced by the yeast - disrupt cellular communication. Once that happens, inflammation and infection settle wherever we are genetically weak. To find out more, you can check out Candida Albicans Disease.