iThei mdcdaelcinfd o c elllllrllll citlhscMany books have been written on the subject of overcoming Candida. I
recommend The Body Ecology Diet by gut health pioneer Donna Gates. It
is a wonderful resource for those who would like additional information.
What Determines the Bacterial Balance?
When we are born, our gut is sterile, and we receive most of our bacteria
from our mothers. The use of medications, the infections we have had,
the types of foods we eat, and psychological or physiological stress can
promote the proliferation of one type of bacteria while causing another
species’ populations to diminish.
Medications
Prescriptions and over-the-counter medications that reduce acid-
ity in the small intestine can lead to an overgrowth of bad bacteria.
Examples include acid suppressants such as Tums™, Alka-Seltzer™,
Pepcid™, and Prilosec™.
Antibiotics can wipe out our normal “protective” flora, allowing patho-
genic bacteria to take over. This is because antibiotics often have a “broad
spectrum” of activity, which means they are not guided by “GPS” to kill
only the pathogenic bacteria but also kill beneficial bacteria as a side effect.
The hospital-acquired C. diff colitis infection is an example of an anti-
biotic-induced imbalance of bacterial flora in which the patient experi-
ences repeated bouts of painful and severe diarrhea due to overgrowth of
the Clostridium difficile bacteria following the use of a broad-spectrum
antibiotic to treat a different condition. C. diff is life-threatening if not
treated appropriately.
A more common and less severe example is vaginal yeast infections fol-
lowing the use of antibiotics for throat or urinary tract infections.
Other medications such as oral contraceptives produce a change in our
intestinal pH, which leads to an abundance of certain bacterial strains and
scarcity of others.
Stress
Researchers have found that stressful conditions can increase the num-
ber of pathogenic bacteria present in the gut. Stressful situations cause
a release of the neurochemicals epinephrine (Epi) and norepinephrine
(NE)—our fight-or-flight chemicals—respectively known as adrenaline
and noradrenaline, which can spill into the intestines.