Nutrition – IBS and Candida

What are the root causes of IBS?

One of the root causes of IBS are Infectious bacteria & today we are discussing one of these termed “Candida”.

What are Intestinal Bacteria?

There are over 500 different strains of intestinal flora both good and bad living quite happily inside us. These are termed our commensal bacteria.

However, there are also approximately 116 potentially infectious bacteria. These can be part of our internal flora or can be picked up from touch or contaminated food or water.

One of the most aggressive & infectious of these bacteria is called “Candida” of which there are 15 different species.

What is Candida & how does candida grow?

Candida starts as an internal commensal yeast bacteria. Stress of modern lifestyle, poor diet, combined with antibiotics, alcohol and smoking all promote imbalanced gut flora lowering or actually destroying our beneficial bacteria. This can promote a yeast overgrowth in the gut. However, it is only when the yeast overgrows that a metamorphosis takes place & the yeast changes into a very aggressive fungal/yeast bacteria which can spread throughout the blood stream.

Here are the some of the symptoms of candida:

Diarrhoea, IBS, chronic fatigue, flu type symptoms, aching, fibromyalgia, oral or vaginal thrush, cystitis, brain fog, coated tongue, skin rashes, folliculitis, psoriasis, blood sugar cravings.  The symptoms however can be significantly controlled through diet & nutritional medicine.

Hot nutrition tip for candida…

Prescription anti fungals don’t work long term! Look at your diet.  Watch your beer and wine intake, sugary food and breads.

How Carolyn can help?

To eradicate Candida Carolyn will start by looking at your case history with subjective analysis. Some specific lab tests may be required before an informed dietary and nutritional medicine plan is advised.

Written by Clinical Nutritionist Carolyn Leigh