Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

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 as low as a very alkaline pH of 11. Ammonia, which is very 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 are 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.

Symptoms of a high dead cell load

Symptoms of candida overgrowth

Causes of candida overgrowth

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.

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.