Here are the exposures which have been found in
clinical experience to bring about Candida. The earlier in life
one is exposed to these things and the more frequently, the
worse the Candida will tend to be.
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Antibiotics. Used to kill
disease-causing bacteria, antibiotics also kill normal,
protective bacterial flora throughout the body. Most
antibiotics are derived from fungal chemicals, chemicals
the fungi make to protect themselves from bacteria. This
is why antibiotics work so well. However, their function
in nature is to allow fungi to grow, and this is the
unavoidable secondary effect of antibiotic use – that
fungi will grow.
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Swimming in chlorinated pools. Chlorine
is a chemical in the halogen class that is used in
swimming pools, hot tubs, and Jacuzzis to kill bacteria
and algae. Just as chlorine kills bacteria in the water,
it also kills the body’s normal bacterial flora.
However, it appears chlorine is not strong enough to
kill yeast at pool water concentrations, so yeast growth
in and on the body is encouraged when the competing
bacteria are cleared out of the way. While chloride
is a very abundant and necessary ion in the body,
chlorine exposure is not at all natural for us.
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Alcohol use (most often beer, wine and vodka).
Alcohol is a fermented product, and therefore
it encourages the growth of yeast in the body. A person
with some yeast excess often is drawn to alcohol, and
then finds that he or she rather quickly develops a
steady habit or craving for it. The regular use of
alcohol cultivates a fungal liver and changes brain
neurotransmission, both of which can lead to addiction
to alcohol – the fungal liver calling for alcohol for
nourishment, and the brain calling for alcohol to
artificially stimulate damaged neurotransmitter
receptors.
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Regular use of Candida-promoting foods.
In the same way as alcohol fosters Candida growth,
fermented, aged and sugary foods can first be craved,
and then become the regular food source for a growing
and deepening Candida infection. Typical culprits are
bread, chocolate, sugar, alcohol, cheese, milk, vinegar,
pickles, nuts and peanuts, apples, grapes, bananas and
coffee. Antibiotics and hormones used in the production
of meat and dairy also contribute.
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Alcoholism in either parent. Alcoholic
parents of young children will have abnormally fungal
flora on their bodies to share through contact with
their children. They will also probably have more sugar
and other fungal feeders in their families’ diets than
other people. Either or both of these may explain why we
observe more Candida problems in children of alcoholic
parents.
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Birth control hormones. During the
years of menstruation and fertility, a woman’s body
produces a carefully orchestrated pattern of ups and
downs of the female sex steroids (hormones) estrogen and
progesterone. This balanced cyclic pattern happens
monthly, and produces fertility and menstruation. Birth
control hormones, given by pills, injections or
otherwise, alter this pulsing hormone secretion pattern
completely by providing a steady level of hormone, which
prevents eggs from being released by the ovaries. Fungal
growth appears to be favored by this unnaturally even
level of hormone, whereas the naturally oscillating
pattern would not sustain fungal growth.
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Mother was always ill. When a person’s
mother was chronically ill since the person’s childhood,
mother’s longstanding immune suppression (evidenced by
her inability to regain health) appears to have fungal
overgrowth either as a cause or consequence of the
illness. Due to the intimate physical contact with
mother from birth through early childhood, it appears
that mother confers some of this excess fungus to the
child. (Note: Don’t blame your mother! The true culprit
is cultural and professional ignorance of this disease.)
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Mercury and mercury fillings (silver amalgam
fillings). Mercury has antibacterial,
fungal-promoting effects. Dental silver fillings are
about 50% mercury by weight. Both mercury particles
(from the grinding action of chewing) and mercury vapor
are consistently produced from fillings, and this
mercury enters the digestive system and other tissues of
the body. Mercury appears to continue its antibacterial
effect in these areas, effectively promoting the growth
of yeast. As used in vaccines, mercury works as an
antibacterial preservative. Mercury from vaccinations
also appears to contribute to this problem.
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Use of corticosteroids. Corticosteroids
are agents such as prednisone, hydrocortisone,
dexamethasone, fluticasone, and many other forms with
names usually ending in –lone, -sone, -cort or –ase.
They are used as pills, inhalers, injections or creams
to stop the inflammation of asthma, allergies, skin
rashes, painful joints, psoriasis, poison oak and ivy,
autoimmune diseases and many other conditions. It is
well-known, however, that because they turn off normal
immune reactions they leave a person without their
natural defenses against fungi and other microbes.
Fungal infections are a common side effect of their use.
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Exposure to pesticides. Exposure to
significant levels of pesticides and other agents
sprayed in farm fields has brought on Candida symptoms
for many people. These agents appear to have an
antibiotic-type effect on normal flora. This is quite
possible, as their purpose is to inhibit growth of
certain organisms. People who live near or work in farm
fields, people whose homes are built on soil that was
farmed with heavy chemical use, and people who had
wanton exposure to pesticides in their youth in the era
before the dangers of pesticides were publicized all may
trace Candida symptoms to this exposure.
While people with Candida symptoms usually can
identify one or more of the above exposures in their past, some
cannot clearly identify which things brought on the Candida
overgrowth symptoms.