(19-04-11) Yeast and chronic inflammation

by Dr. Carolyn Dean

(NaturalNews) While reading Blinded by Science, an amazing book that you can
download for free on the internet at http://www.blindedbyscience.co.uk/ until
April 30, 2011, I realized that most of the work I've done for the past 30
years has been ignored by science. I beat my head against the brick wall of
medical and scientific complacency because people continue to suffer from the
following conditions, and the best that doctors can do is offer them
tranquilizers!

1. Yeast overgrowth
2. Magnesium deficiency
3. IBS caused by poor diet and lifestyle
4. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
5. Undiagnosed hypothyroidism
6. Underdiagnosed Adrenal fatigue
7. Heavy metal toxicity

In this article I focus on...

Yeast Overgrowth

I studied yeast overgrowth after medical school during my naturopathic
training. It made sense to me that people who take antibiotics kill off good
bacteria as well as bad bacteria and set up an hospitable environment for yeast
to overgrow. But for some reason, medicine chooses to ignore yeast overgrowth.

Candida albicans is a fungus living in our intestines that produces 180
chemical toxins that can be absorbed through the intestines into the blood.
Just think of what 180 toxins can do to your immune system. Any "foreign
chemical" in the blood stream will create an inflammatory reaction that can be
measured by various blood tests. These toxins are capable of making you feel
dizzy and fatigued, shutting down your thyroid, throwing your hormones off
balance, causing you to gain weight and crave sugar and alcohol. It's
associated with PMS, loss of libido, painful intercourse, infertility,
numbness, tingling, MS, Crohn's, colitis, IBS, acne, Lupus, insomnia,
drowsiness, white tongue, breath bad, body odor, sinusitis, bruising, sore
throat, bronchitis, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, spots in front of
eyes, and dozens more symptoms.

Medicine, by ignoring yeast overgrowth and just thinking it's a pesky
vaginitis, doesn't realize how deeply yeast is involved with our current
epidemic of inflammation.

Inflammation is a 'hot' topic. An Internet search on the word turned up an
overwhelming 43.4 million hits. Journals of inflammation, inflammation research
associations, and drug companies are all scrambling to find a drug to treat
this scourge. Inflammation is the body's first defense against infection, but
when it goes awry, it can lead to heart attacks, colon cancer, Alzheimer's and
a host of other diseases.

How can a simple infection lead to heart attacks and cancer? That's exactly
where inflammation begins; it's the first response of your immune system to an
infecting organism or foreign material that trips a switch leading to a
"cascade" of biochemical events. Fluid floods the infected area along with a
dozen different chemicals including white blood cells and histamine -all
capable of producing the signs of inflammation - redness, swelling, and pain.

To the great detriment of the health of our society, this fungus is growing
rampant in a large proportion of the population - both men and women. It's one
of the many diseases of civilization - the culmination of the side effects of
drug and food technology and the disservices of our stressful way of life. The
miracle of antibiotics has its downside as an underlying cause of yeast
overgrowth. The refining of sugar and wheat has its downside by creating a
simple food source for yeast. The tremendous levels of stress hormones that
flood our bodies daily, hourly, and every minute in our sped up world also make
us prey to yeast.

Candidiasis (yeast overgrowth) has been around for decades, ever since we
began to use antibiotics but neglected to replace the good bacteria that are
destroyed along with the bad. Yeast itself, a cousin to molds, has grown in
human bodies since Adam and Eve. Candida albicans is the main yeast in the
human body; it lives there happily enough, kept in check by beneficial bacteria
in the intestines. These bacteria make small amounts of vitamin K and B12 and
help digest excess sugar that gets past the small intestine. A very special
group of bacteria also make lactic acid, which protects the gut and vagina
against yeast.

Candida is one of the 400 organisms that make their home in our mouth,
digestive tract, vagina and on our skin. For the most part, yeast get along
with their neighbors. When you begin taking antibiotics, however, the whole
delicate balance is lost. Antibiotics don't discriminate, they wipe out most of
the good along with the bad bacteria leaving yeast unharmed.

In the absence of competition, yeast colonies grow into all the empty nooks
and crannies of the large intestine and even the small intestine. It is a
scientific fact that when yeast cells reach a certain critical mass they change
from a round budding stage to a thread-like tissue invasive stage. They are
running out of food and looking for more, so they pack their bags and emigrate
to the small intestine from their main home in the large intestine.

In the small intestine, the yeast threads poke microscopic holes in the
intestinal lining. Such a phenomenon is called "leaky gut" - a superhighway to
the blood stream with nothing to block toxins trickling across the gut lining.
Instead of absorbing life-giving nutrients through an intact intestinal wall,
yeast's chemical by-products (all 180 of them), the inflammatory products they
produce, undigested food molecules, bacterial toxins, and other chemicals take
a one-way ride. The holes are not necessarily big enough to allow yeast to get
into the blood stream, so the blood is not infected with yeast, but it carries
hundreds of waste products that cause inflammation from head to toe.

When yeast, bacterial, and food toxins hit the blood stream they trigger
widespread inflammatory reactions by either directly attacking tissues or
creating allergic reactions along with the production of histamine. Some of the
yeast toxins like acetaldehyde, alcohol, zymosan, arabinitol, and gliotoxin
have been named by mycologists - people that study fungi but rarely do they
extend their discussion to the human suffering caused by these toxins. A
similar lack of attention is being paid to toxic mold that threatens the Gulf
states after the Katrina devastation. Any home still standing that was flooded
will be covered in mold, and that mold and its toxins could be deadly.

Acetaldehyde is produced when yeast digests sugar. It is a particularly potent
toxin that can damage all the tissues in the body including the brain. It is
also produced when you drink alcohol, breathe the exhaust from cars, and smoke
cigarettes. What most people don't know is that yeast also produces alcohol in
the body - enough to make some people feel drunk and give a positive reading on
a breathalyzer test. When alcohol breaks down in the body, it produces
acetaldehyde. If you have yeast overgrowth and also drink alcohol you are hit
with a double dose of acetaldehyde hangover or brain fog. In actual fact, most
people with yeast overgrowth can't touch alcohol because it makes them feel so
rotten.

Acetaldehyde readily combines with red blood cells, proteins, and enzymes;
travels to all parts of the body; and even passes through the blood brain
barrier. It damages the structure of red blood cells making them unable to
squeeze through tiny capillaries to convey oxygen to needy tissues.
Acetaldehyde also blocks the attachment of oxygen to red blood cells. Your
brain uses 20 percent of all the oxygen that you inhale but stiff red blood
cells cut down that amount considerably leaving you gasping for air and feeling
whoozy. Acetaldehyde damages nerve cells, induces deficiencies of an important
nerve vitamin, B1 (thiamine), the energy and neurotransmitter vitamin, B 3
(niacin), and vitamin B5, which is crucial for normal brain function.

Zymosan causes inflammation and has been directly associated with psoriasis.
Arabinitol attacks the immune system, nervous system, and the brain. And
gliotoxin disrupts the DNA in white blood cells killing them outright. Other
toxins account for the long list of symptoms attributed to yeast overgrowth and
that are eliminated when yeast is brought under control. Researchers have also
proven that Candida antibodies cross react with all tissues in the body that
have been tested. That type of cross reactivity sets the stage for autoimmune
disease.

Weight gain is very common in yeast overgrowth. Our bodies create pounds of
fluid retention in an attempt to dilute the inflammatory toxins that yeast
produces. Over time, tissue toxins and fluid build up lead to cellulite and
weight gain. The gas produced by yeast can cause abdominal bloating that can
increase your waist size up to six inches from one meal to the next.
Antibiotics are fed to beef cattle to increase their weight. Antibiotics given
to humans can have the same effect.

The Yeast Questions

The following questions can help you decide whether you should look further
into yeast overgrowth as a cause of your inflammation and chronic symptoms.

1. Have you taken several courses of antibiotics in the past?
2. Have you been on the birth control pill?
3. Do you react to the smell of damp moldy places?
4. Do you crave sugar and bread?
5. Do you feel drained to the point of exhaustion?
6. Do you have symptoms of intestinal gas, bloating, and cramping (IBS)?
7. Are you troubled by constant vaginal infections?
8. Are you bothered by itchy burning eyes?

What's the Cure?

The treatment for yeast does not lie in a pill as many have learned. Even if
your doctor is one of the few who recognizes yeast overgrowth, the most common
treatment recommended is a week or two of very powerful antifungal medications.

Most doctors don't understand that yeast overgrowth requires a multi-pronged
attack. Information on this approach is freely available at www.yeastconnection.
com and what follows is in a very abbreviated form.

1. Diet: avoid sugar, wheat and dairy as well as fermented foods, and alcohol.
I have found that reducing sugar intake is one of the most important ways to
control hypoglycemia, diabetes, and intestinal yeast. Reduce your sugar intake
by supplementing your tea, water, and other beverages with Stevia.

2. Probiotics (good bacteria): the best ones are acidophilus and bifidus.
Obtain products that guarantee 2-10 billion organisms per capsule to the expiry
date.

3. Antifungal supplements: garlic (eat one or two cloves a day), oil of
oregano (take 2-3 capsules per day) and grapefruit seed extract (take two to
three capsules per day) or take a formula that includes caprylic acid, pau
D'Arco, black walnut, beta carotene, and biotin.

4. Exercise every day, at least 30 minutes, to move the lymph circulation that
clears toxins from the body.

5. De-stress with prayer, meditation, breathing exercises, and/or yoga to
reduce the amount of natural cortisol that stimulates yeast overgrowth.

6. Work with a caring physician. Download a comprehensive physician's packet
to take to your doctor from yeastconnection.com. The last step of the program
is prescription antifungals from your doctor, but only if you also continue
steps 1-5.

It is mainly through diet and lifestyle change that you can overcome yeast
overgrowth-but you can overcome it and reduce the amount of inflammation in
your life with some effort and support.


About the author:
Dr. Carolyn Dean is a medical doctor and naturopathic doctor. She has been in
the forefront of the natural medicine revolution for over 30 years.

Dr. Dean is the author / coauthor of 22 health books (print and eBooks)
including The Magnesium Miracle, IBS for Dummies, IBS Cookbook for Dummies, The
Yeast Connection and Women's Health, Future Health Now Encyclopedia, Death by
Modern Medicine, Everything Alzheimers, and Hormone Balance.

Dr. Dean is Medical Director of the Medical Anti-Aging Clinic and Pharmacy in
Dubai Health Care City and Medical Director of the Nutritional Magnesium
Association.

Dr. Dean has a free newsletter and a valuable online 2-year wellness program
called Future Health Now! and a telephone consulting practice. Find out more at
www.drcarolyndean.com

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