I can not believe the way this thread on candida(yeast) has progressed.
Steve Dyer and I have been exchanging words over the same topic in Sci. 
Med. Nutrition when he displayed his typical reserve and attacked a women 
poster for being treated by a liscenced physician for a disease that did 
not exist.  Calling this physician a quack was reprehensible Steve and I 
see that you and some of the others are doing it here as well.  

Let me tell you who the quacks really are, these are the physicans who have 
no idea how the human body interacts with it's environment and how that 
balance can be altered by diet and antibiotics.  These are the physicians 
who dismiss their patients with difficult symptomatology and make them go 
from doctor to doctor to find relief(like Elaine in Sci. Med. Nutrition) and 
then when they find one that solves their problem, the rest start yelling 
quack.  Could it just be professional jealousy?  I couldn't help Elaine or Jon
but somebody else did.  Could they know more than Me?  No way, they must be a 
quack.  

I've been teaching a human nutrition course for Medical students for over ten 
years now and guess who the most receptive students are?  Those that were 
raised on farms and saw first-hand the effect of diet on the health of their 
farm animals and those students who had made a dramatic diet change prior to 
entering medical school(switched to the vegan diet).  Typically, this is 
about 1/3 of my class of 90 students.  Those not interested in nutrition 
either tune me out or just stop coming to class.  That's okay because I 
know that some of what I'm teaching is going to stick and there will be at 
least a few "enlightened" physicians practicing in the U.S.  It's really 
too bad that most U.S. medical schools don't cover nutrition because if 
they did, candida would not be viewed as a non-disease by so many in the 
medical profession.

In animal husbandry, an animal is reinnoculated with "good" bacteria after 
antibiotics are stopped.  Medicine has decided that since humans do not 
have a ruminant stomach, no such reinnoculation with "good" bacteria is 
needed after coming off a braod spectrum antibiotic.  Humans have all 
kinds of different organisms living in the GI system(mouth, stomach, small 
and large intestine), sinuses, vagina and on the skin.  These are 
nonpathogenic because they do not cause disease in people unless the immune 
system is compromised.  They are also called nonpathogens because unlike 
the pathogenic organisms that cause human disease, they do not produce 
toxins as they live out their merry existence in and on our body.  But any of 
these organisms will be considered pathogenic if it manages to take up 
residence within the body.  A poor mucus membrane barrier can let this 
happen and vitamin A is mainly responsible for setting up this barrier.
Steve got real upset with Elaine's doctor because he was using anti-fungals 
and vitamin A for her GI problems.  If Steve really understoood what 
vitamin A does in the body, he would not(or at least should not) be calling 
Elaine's doctor a quack.

Here is a brief primer on yeast.  Yeast infections, as they are commonly 
called, are not truely caused by yeasts.  The most common organism responsible
for this type of infection is Candida albicans or Monilia which is actually a 
yeast-like fungus.  An infection caused by this organism is called candidiasis.
Candidiasis is a very rare occurance because, like an E. Coli infection, it 
requires that the host immune system be severly depressed.  

Candida is frequently found on the skin and all of the mucous membranes of 
normal healthy people and it rarely becomes a problem unless some predisposing
factor is present such as a high blood glucose level(diabetes) or an oral 
course of antibiotics has been used.  In diabetics, their secretions contain 
much higher amounts of glucose.  Candida, unlike bacteria, is very limited in 
it's food(fuel) selection.  Without glucose, it can not grow, it just barely 
survives.  If it gets access to a lot of glucose, it blooms and over rides 
the other organisms living with it in the sinuses, GI tract or vagina.  In 
diabetics, skin lesions can also foster a good bloom site for these little 
buggers.  The bloom is usually just a minor irritant in most people but 
some people do really develop a bad inflammatory process at the mucus 
membrane or skin bloom site.  Whether this is an allergic like reaction to 
the candida or not isn't certain.  When the bloom is in the vagina or on 
the skin, it can be easliy seen and some doctors do then try to "treat" it.
If it's internal, only symptoms can be used and these symptoms are pretty 
nondiscript.  


Candida is kept in check in most people by the normal bacterial flora in 
the sinuses, the GI tract(mouth, stomach and intestines) and in the 
vaginal tract which compete with it for food.  The human immune system 
ususally does not bother itself with these(nonpathogenic organisms) unless 
they broach the mucus membrane "barrier".  If they do, an inflammatory 
response will be set up.  Most Americans are not getting enough vitamin A 
from their diets.  About 30% of all American's die with less Vitamin A than 
they were born with(U.S. autopsy studies).  While this low level of vitamin 
A does not cause pathology(blindness) it does impair the mucus membrane 
barrier system.  This would then be a predisposing factor for a strong 
inflammatory response after a candida bloom.  

While diabetics can suffer from a candida "bloom" the  most common cause of 
this type of bloom is the use of broad spectrum antibiotics which 
knock down many different kinds of bacteria in the body and remove the main 
competition for candida as far as food is concerned.  While drugs are 
available to handle candida, many patients find that their doctor will not 
use them unless there is evidence of a systemic infection.  The toxicity of 
the anti-fungal drugs does warrant some caution.  But if the GI or sinus 
inflammation is suspected to be candida(and recent use of a broad spectrum 
antibiotic is the smoking gun), then anti-fungal use should be approrpriate 
just as the anti-fungal creams are an appropriate treatment for recurring 
vaginal yeast infections, in spite of what Mr. Steve Dyer says.

But even in patients being given the anti-fungals, the irritation caused by 
the excessive candida bloom in the sinus, GI tract or the vagina tends to 
return after drug treatment is discontinued unless the underlying cause of 
the problem is addressed(lack of a "good" bacterial flora in the body and/or 
poor mucus membrane barrier).  Lactobacillus acidophilus is the most effective 
therapy for candida overgrowth.  From it's name, it is an acid loving 
organism and it sets up an acidic condition were it grows.  Candida can not 
grow very well in an acidic environment.  In the vagina, L. acidophilius is 
the predominate bacteria(unless you are hit with broad spectrum 
antibiotics).  

In the GI system, the ano-rectal region seems to be a particularly good 
reservoir for candida and the use of pantyhose by many women creates a very 
favorable environment around the rectum for transfer(through moisture and 
humidity) of candida to the vaginal tract.  One of the most effctive ways to 
minimmize this transfer is to wear undyed cotton underwear.  

If the bloom occurs in the anal area, the burning, swelling, pain and even 
blood discharge make many patients think that they have hemorroids.  If the 
bloom manages to move further up the GI tract, very diffuse symptomatology 
occurs(abdominal discomfort and blood in the stool).  This positive stool 
for occult blood is what sent Elaine to her family doctor in the first 
place.  After extensive testing, he told her that there was nothing wrong 
but her gut still hurt.  On to another doctor, and so on.  Richard Kaplan 
has told me throiugh e-mail that he considers occult blood tests in stool 
specimens to be a waste of time and money because of the very large number of 
false positives(candida blooms guys?).  If my gut hurt me on a constant 
basis, I would want it fixed.  Yes it's nice to know that I don't have 
colon cancer but what then is causing my distress?  When I finally find a 
doctor who treats me and gets me 90% better, Steve Dyer calls him a quack.

Candida prefers a slightly alkaline environment while bacteria 
tend to prefer a slightly acidic environment.  The vagina becomes alkaline 
during a woman's period and this is often when candida blooms in the vagina. 
Vinegar and water douches are the best way of dealing with vaginal 
problems.  Many women have also gotten relief from the introduction of 
Lactobacillus directly into the vaginal tract(I would want to be sure of 
the purity of the product before trying this).  My wife had this vagina 
problem after going on birth control pills and searched for over a year 
until she found a gynocologist who solved the problem rather than just writting 
scripts for anti-fungal creams.  This was a woman gynocologist who had had 
the same problem(recurring vaginal yeast infections).  This M.D. did some 
digging and came up with an acetic acid and L. Acidophilis douche which she 
used in your office to keep it sterile.  After three treatments, sex 
returned to our marraige.  I have often wondered what an M.D. with chronic 
GI distress or sinus problems would do about the problem that he tells his 
patients is a non-existent syndrome.

The nonpathogenic bacteria L. acidophilus is an acid producing bacteria 
which is the most common bacteria found in the vaginal tract of healthy women.  
If taken orally, it can also become a major bacteria in the gut.  Through 
aresol sprays, it has also been used to innoculate the sinus membranes.
But before this innoculation occurs, the mucus membrane barrier system 
needs to be strengthened.  This is accomplished by vitamin A, vitamin C and 
some of the B-complex vitamins.  Diet surveys repeatedly show that Americans 
are not getting enough B6 and folate.  These are probably the segement of 
the population that will have the greatest problem with this non-existent 
disorder(candida blooms after antibiotic therapy).
 
Some of the above material was obtained from "Natural Healing" by Mark 
Bricklin, Published by Rodale press, as well as notes from my human 
nutrition course.  I will be posting a discussion of vitamin A  sometime in 
the future, along with reference citings to point out the extremely 
important role that vitamin A plays in the mucus membrane defense system in 
the body and why vitamin A should be effective in dealing with candida 
blooms.  Another effective dietary treatment is to restrict carbohydrate 
intake during the treatment phase, this is especially important if the GI 
system is involved.  If candida can not get glucose, it's not going to out 
grow the bacteria and you then give bacteria, which can use amino acids and 
fatty acids for energy, a chance to take over and keep the candida in check 
once carbohydrate is returned to the gut.

If Steve and some of the other nay-sayers want to jump all over this post, 
fine.  I jumped all over Steve in Sci. Med. Nutrition because he verbably 
accosted a poster who was seeking advice about her doctor's use of vitamin 
A and anti-fungals for a candida bloom in her gut.  People seeking advice 
from newsnet should not be treated this way.  Those of us giving of our 
time and knowledge can slug it out to our heart's content.  If you saved 
your venom for me Steve and left the helpless posters who are timidly 
seeking help alone, I wouldn't have a problem with your behavior. 
 
Martin Banschbach, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry and Chairman
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
1111 West 17th St.
Tulsa, Ok. 74107