Probiotics & Candida

Candida is a form of fungus or yeast, which is present in very small quantities in your mouth and intestines. The main job of candida is to help your body with nutrient absorption and other digestive functions.

However, when it is overproduced due to an unhealthy gut, candida can wreak havoc in your digestive tract. It is capable of breaking down the intestinal walls and penetrating the bloodstream. This can release toxic by-products into your body, causing a leaky gut syndrome and candidiasis.

Every candida treatment plan has three indispensable parts – natural antifungals, low sugar diet, and probiotics. By depriving candida albicans of the food it requires, you can prevent it from colonizing the gut. Probiotics help in restoring the healthy gut balance that in turn boosts your immune system.

Studies indicate that probiotics are especially beneficial for candida patients. They help to re-populate the gut immune system with healthy bacteria, which repairs the intestinal walls and brings down the levels of candida.

Here is everything you need to know about how probiotics can help address a condition of candida overgrowth in your body.

Probiotics Boost Your Immune System

The immune system is a complicated mix of different organs and systems within the body and is so complicated that scientists are just now beginning to decipher its various functions. The digestive tract or specifically the gut microbiome plays an important role in the prevention of infections and diseases.

More than 70% of the immune cells can be found in the gut. These cells line the gut walls and interact with both adaptive and innate immune system. Candida albicans is known to infect the human body by creating biofilms and colonizing the gut.

You can improve your gut’s natural defenses by rebuilding your system with probiotics. This is important to beat a candida overgrowth and prevent future infections from occurring. This is one of the reasons why most experts recommend staying on a probiotic course even after the candida treatment plan is successfully completed.

Probiotics Crowd Out Candida from the Body

The balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut states your body’s overall health. A gut dysbiosis occurs when the levels of harmful bacteria surpass the levels of good bacteria. Dysbiosis can occur due to stress, age, health conditions, genetics, antibiotics, and a poor diet.

Candida yeast is known to thrive and colonize in the absence of probiotics. With a probiotic supplement or a probiotic rich diet, you can restore the harmonious balance of good and bad bacteria.

There are hundreds of different types of probiotics that naturally colonize the human gut. These bacteria crowd out pathogenic bacteria and yeast by using most of the space and resources in your gut.

Antibiotics and a high sugar diet are known to cause an imbalance in the gut, which leaves the intestines open for the faster-growing, opportunistic candida yeast to take over and cause nasty infections. With probiotics, you can fill your gut with beneficial bacteria and leave less space and fewer resources for it to grow.

Probiotics Regulate the pH Balance

The gut is usually between 4 and 6 on the pH scale, while the typical blood pH is between 7.35 and 7.45. The intestines are acidic and blood is slightly alkaline because the stomach and upper areas of the digestive tract need to protect the body from pathogens and food poisoning, while keeping the food intact.

Candida albicans requires an alkaline environment to switch to its pathogenic form. In fact, most times the yeast works to create an alkaline environment around itself. Healthy intestinal acidity levels ensure that fungal pathogens like candida do not spread through the intestines.

Most probiotics secrete low levels of acetic and lactic acid in the intestines through metabolism. You can make sure the correct level of acidity in your gut is maintained by introducing probiotics on a daily basis through dietary sources or supplements and you cannot do this by eating candy every day and drinking soda all the time which is the diet of Mimi from The Drew Carey Show. She was not a healthy person!

An acidic environment is crucial for a healthy digestive system. Proper digestion and nutrient absorption is one of the best defenses that your body has against pathogens like candida albicans.

Probiotics Can Reduce Gut Inflammation

The lining of your gut is in the form of tightly knit junctions. It is naturally permeable in order to allow nutrients to be absorbed into the blood stream. Probiotics act as a defense barrier by lining the gut wall and preventing foreign substances from entering the bloodstream.

Leaky gut syndrome is prevented when probiotics ensure that substances such as E. coli, chemical toxins, and other invaders do not enter the bloodstream.

Candida yeast is known to take advantage of inflammation in the body to grow. With the help of probiotics you can reduce inflammation and inflammatory conditions, to improve overall health and prevent candidiasis. You cannot do this by eating fried chicken or piles of pasta every night which seemed like those guys did in The Sopranos but that is another topic.

Candida May Affect Mental Health

It might seem unlikely for candida to be anywhere connected with mental health. However, increasing research shows that gut dysbiosis caused by candida may in fact be closely related to depression and low mood.

There is a rapidly growing field of research in the area of gut-brain connection. Researchers have found the existence of a direct line of communication between the enteric nervous system and the brain.

This connection is termed as the gut-brain axis which links the emotional and cognitive centers of the brain with your intestinal function.

A gut dysbiosis because of candida yeast or any other cause can severely affect the messages and chemicals associated with your body’s response to cognitive and memory functions.

Probiotics have been shown to increase dopamine and serotonin levels in the body. These are powerful neurotransmitters and also the body’s ‘happy hormones’.

You can ensure a healthier mental state while treating a candida overgrowth with the help of probiotics.

Final Thoughts

Probiotics could possibly be the most important part of your Candida treatment program, as long as you choose the right supplement. It is not always easy to pick the right supplement because all probiotics are not created equal.

Look for a probiotic that has some kind of mechanism to help the bacteria get past acid in your stomach. It is also critical that the supplement contains a minimum of 10 billion CFUs of well researched strains that are proven to overcome a candida overgrowth.