This is off-topic, but since there's been a lot of discussion about
thrush etc, I thought I'd post this here:

I recently was given a copy of the article "The Candida Syndrome:
Health Nemesis or Myth?" by Charles W. Moore from the Mar/Apr '98
issue of Natural Life newsmagazine.

This authors cited in the article lay a huge number of ailments at
the feet of systemic candida albicans overgrowth, from depression and
PMS to Crohn's disease, schizophrenia and lupus.

Whether these claims are well-founded or not, there is some
interesting advice for preventing candidiasis:
- avoid antibacterial soaps & deodorants, as well unnecessary
antibiotics
- apparently there is some debate over whether diets should be
high-protein or high-carb:  protein breaks down to ammonia which
cause a favourable climate for yeast, but, as we know, carbs break
down to sugars, which also favour yeast (but feed beneficial flora as
well).
- some therapists recommend avoiding dietary yeast because of
cross-reactivity, but others claim yeast-containing foods may help
stimulate antibody production against candida.

Some of the proposed causes of candidiasis are:
- overprescription & misuse of antibiotics in medicine and
agriculture
- buildup of "subtoxic" concentrations of chemical pollutants
- amalgam fillings (by slowly depressing immune system)
- overconsumption of simple carbohydrates
- accumulation of acetyaldehydes from candida (vicious circle)
- "leaky gut" from fungal candida roots in the intestine, which
swamps the immune system with food particles in the bloodstream
(vicious circle again).

 It's an interesting article, but I don't know how well supported by
research the references are.  The Infectious Diseases and
Immunization Committee of the CPS states "the hypothesis of 'chronic
candidiasis'  must be considered speculative and unproven."

However, if anyone is interested in investigating this further the
references given in the article are:
Truss, C Orian, "The Missing Diagnosis"
Crook, William, "The Yeast Connection"
Sehnert, Keith, "The Candidiasis Syndrome"
Cooter, Stephan, Ph.D. "Beating Chronic Disease"
www.panix.com/~candida/
www.healthy.net/clinic/dandc/candida/
www.hooked.net/~bubbha/candia.htm

If anyone does find out more, I'd like to hear about it (by private
email).

Jennifer Landels, BA, CE
Vancouver BC