![]() ![]() Patients taking oral or inhaled steroids may develop Candida infections in the oropharynx and esophagus. Fungal infections, from Candida or other fungi, frequently occur on the nails or skin. This is not to say that fungal infections do not take place in the body. Much of the misinformation I encounter on Candida infections focuses on selling a story that encourages people to blame Candida overgrowth as the cause of their symptoms and undertake expensive or complicated dietary and supplement regimens to “cure” the infection. In a 2021 ISAPP presentation on the gut mycobiome, I provided a clinical perspective on fungal infections and the related evidence base. Some articles aim to counter the hype – for example, an article titled “Is gut Candida overgrowth actually real, and do Candida diets work?” Yet patients are too often confused about the evidence on Candida and other fungi in the GI tract. Even cookbooks exist with recipes specifically tailored to “cure” someone of Candida infection through dietary changes. Their insistence is perhaps not surprising, given how many many websites and social media ‘gurus’ share lists of symptoms supposedly tied to Candida infections. Patients experiencing a range of symptoms, including digestive problems, sometimes believe they have an overgrowth of Candida in their gastrointestinal (GI) tract and want to know what to do about it. Eamonn Quigley, MD, The Methodist Hospital and Weill Cornell School of Medicine, HoustonĪs a gastroenterologist, I frequently meet with patients who are adamant that a Candida infection is the cause of their ailments. This was the puzzle piece she was missing! She worked with one of our holistic health experts to eliminate her infections, and she instantly hit a new healthy level she lost more weight, belly problems disappeared, aches & pains diminished, and her headaches went away.By Prof. No amount of healthy gut-loving foods were going to eliminate her infections. When she ran a GI-MAP gut health test, she discovered that she was full of parasites and other unfriendly microbes. No matter how well she continued to eat and take care of herself, she couldn’t lose the rest of the weight, couldn’t totally resolve her tummy problems, and she still had a lot of aches & pains. Her energy boosted, her diarrhea stopped, her belly was no longer in pain, and she slimmed down.īut she quickly hit a plateau. Suddenly nearly everything she ate was home-cooked from scratch and within a few months, her health was very different. She went from pizza & pasta to regularly cooking veggies she didn’t even know the names of. So she took a stand for herself and changed her diet radically. She wasn’t living, she was simply surviving. But her list of ailments was long enough to fill 3 full sheets of paper. She only knew how to stab the cellophane and toss her frozen meal into the microwave. The strategy to address candida or other chronic infections is simple:Īt 30 years old, Natalie didn’t know what healthy eating was. They produce toxins that damage our gutįriendly bacteria do the opposite – they help us digest our food & absorb nutrients, and they produce byproducts that are nourishing to the gut. They steal our nutrients & create a deficit of nutrientsĢ. But if any of those mechanisms have been suppressed for any reason – stress, a diet high in processed foods, antacids, autoimmunity – it paves the way for unfriendly species to make their way into the gut & become the dominant species.Ģ reasons Chronic Infections Cause Problemsġ. Healthy levels of stomach acid neutralize most microbes, and the immune system and gut microbiome tackle whatever makes it past the stomach and deeper into the gut. In a healthy person, the immune system and digestive system both do a great job preventing most infections from taking hold. Once a candida infection takes hold, it can be challenging to conquer without a targeted holistic approach that addresses not only the overgrowth itself, but also the factors that created the overgrowth in the first place. In the modern world, we tend to give candida a lot of opportunities to thrive. But it will thrive & grow out of control if given the right conditions. In a healthy person, candida does no harm. Fungi are everywhere – in the air, growing on the surface of fruits (think of that white-ish film on the surface of a plum or grape), and they’re found in every human gut.Ĭandida is an opportunistic yeast. What do toenail fungus, mushrooms, and mold all have in common? Each is a type of fungus. ![]()
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