What is Candida?

Filed in archive General Health on May 1, 2007

I'm sure you've all heard the term Candida used in reference to health. What is Candida, anyway?

According to Wikipedia:

Candida is a genus of yeasts. Clinically, the most significant member of the genus is Candida albicans, which can cause numerous infections (called candidiasis or thrush) in humans and other animals, especially in immunocompromised patients.

An article in American Chronicle has this to say about candida:

Candidiasis is the common name for a condition that results in the overproduction of a form of yeast normally found in the body at low levels. Candida is not considered anything to worry about; however, recent research has put a spotlight on this form of yeast that is causing the medical profession to reconsider its totally benign assessment of candida.

One of the methods for controlling yeast infections is the use of probiotics, as suggested in this post on the Candida and Yeast Infection Blog:

I have come to a stage in my treatment of Candida where I am trying very hard to introduce some friendly bacteria into my gut as a way of permanently controlling candida. I am taking a lot of probiotics at the moment both in the form of capsules and various yoghurts also other things like Chlorella, sauerkraut and FOS (basically everything to try to encourage good bacteria to emplant and replicate.