Candida and the Immune System

Candida albicans, an overgrowth of yeast organisms that starts in the gut, can spread from the lower bowel to colonize the entire digestive tract, stomach (especially in cases of low or no stomach acid), throat, mouth and nasal passages, and lungs. The yeast can form rhizoids that look like fingers, and puncture the colon and small intestine walls all the way up to the stomach and esophagus. This stage is chronically debilitating. The rhizoids metabolize carbohydrates and emit chemical waste products that lead to toxic bowel syndrome and malabsorption. Among these chemicals are: acetaldehyde, a toxic by-product of alcohol that leads to toxic liver overload which in turn causes sinusitis, bronchial inflammation and infections, and chronic kidney infections without infectious agents being present; ammonia; three hormones: testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone; alcohol: there are documented cases of apparent intoxication without any alcohol consumption; carbon dioxide: leads to bloating gas.

Acetaldehyde Poisoning. Acetaldehyde is very toxic to the Central Nervous System(CNS); it stresses the liver and kidneys and causes vitamin B deficiency. If the system is flooded with B-vitamins, some of the symptoms can be temporarily overridden. This does not, however, solve the problem.

Acetaldehyde interferes with normal hormone metabolism: it affects pituitary, thyroid and adrenal glands. Acetaldehyde blocks cell membranes and so competes with thyroxin, where it enters the cells. Blood tests are usually inaccurate. One may have normal blood thyroid levels even though the basal metabolic rate is low; thyroxin cannot get into cells because of chronic acetaldehyde poisoning. Acetaldehyde also competes with estrogen binding sites in women. This leads to low cell estrogen while maintaining normal blood estrogen levels.

Leaky Gut Syndrome. The bowel wall is normally a very sturdy protective membrane that keeps the toxic products of digestion out of the bloodstream. In Candida overgrowth, the rhizoids dig deep into the wall so tenaciously that they damage the bowel wall itself. The lining becomes inflamed and less efficient in handling food. Many people with allergies and food sensitivities actually have an overgrowth of Candida in their gut.

When the bowel walls become more permeable they allow large food molecules to pass into the blood stream. This phenomenon leads to “Leaky Gut Syndrome”. Incompletely digested food particles and toxic byproducts of digestion pass into the blood where they cause reactions at distant sites, such as the joints, lungs, liver, kidneys and especially the brain. Results of a leaky gut may be chronic fatigue, food allergies, asthma, immune deficiency, autoimmune disease, inflammatory joint disease, liver and kidney stress.

Immune Suppression. When the rhizoids penetrate the intestinal walls of the small bowels, enzymes from inside the cytoplasm get into the blood stream and the body forms antibodies. This leads to the formation of immune complexes. Suppression of the immune system follows with devastating consequences to cancer and AIDS patients, who all have chronic systemic candidiasis.

Controlling the overgrowth of Candida albicans is essential to good health. Visit the Natural Cures website to learn more. If you suspect you have Candida overgrowth, visit a natural medicine practitioner and consider the Natural Cures Candida Cleanse regime.

So much is at stake.