Candida is caused by two things: a diet high in refined carbohydrates, and a lowered immune system, which can be caused by illness or stress. An overabundance of fungus can further diminish the immune system, and has been linked with chronic fatigue.
Conventional medicine admits that the people most often infected are those with natural defenses depressed by excessive use of antibiotics and steroids or by certain diseases or operative procedures. Even spermicides have been credited with upsetting the delicate bacterial balance that invites too much Candia. Nonoxynol-9 is the most commonly used over-the-counter spermicide. One medical journal reported that candida albicans were found to not only survive in up to a 25 percent concentration of this product, but grow and adhere better to cells when exposed to it.
The conventional medicine Home Health Handbook states that: 'Broad-spectrum antibiotic taken for other causes can disrupt the natural bacterial balance of the female parts, and promote candida vaginitis from an overgrowth of yeast.
Antibiotics make the situation worse by destroying the army of beneficial bacteria, allowing candida albicans to go where it does not belong and proliferating. Normally, candida is not a problem because intestinal bacteria keep it under control. But when bacteria are killed by antibiotics, for example, the bad guys can proliferate while the good guys are still down for the count. Keep in mind that antibiotics are in the food supply because antibiotic supplements are given to animals as treatment for diseases and as food additives.
Candida is an opportunistic organism that overgrows only when the body is beset by allergies, nutritional deficiencies or environmental pollution- anything that lowers the body's natural defenses, including today's modern lifestyle and eating habits.
John Parks MD, emphasizes the need to eliminate allergens and irritants, which underline the immune system, following up with nutritional and bacterial boosters to restore the natural and effective defense system. He especially recommends liquid agicate garlic extract as a particularly effective fungus fighter, stating that it worked better than the prescription drug nystatin is several studies. Adding that a good squirt of the liquid form sloshed as long as you can in the mouth several times a day can effectively cure thrush.
Numerous studies have been conducted on the antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties of garlic, and researchers have found it even works on candida. The Journal of General Microbiology reported on a Kuwaiti study of liquid garlic extract and its effect on candida albicans. NO matter how the researchers diluted it, the garlic was able to reduce the overgrowth.