Fungal Defense for Candida Overgrowth
The best defense against candidiasis, also known as yeast infection or thrush, could well be use of homeostatic soil organisms, or HSOs as they are now known.
by Jordan Rubin, N.M.D., C.N.C.


In January 2000, physician skeptic Paul A. Goldberg, M.P.H., D.C., professor of gastroenterology and public health at Life Chiropractic College, came across promotional materials about Primal Defense™ with HSOs. Essentially, Primal Defense HSOs are soil organisms that were obtained from a pristine environment and are thought to be as old as the earth itself. Because so many people with various gastrointestinal disorders and other maladies such as chronic fatigue have made themselves well again by using these beneficial soil organisms, a number of Dr. Goldberg’s patients who had heard the reports began to question him about Primal Defense.

Dr. Goldberg is not a big fan of nutritional supplements. He believes the claims surrounding products often exaggerate their benefits. He therefore challenged us at Garden of Life (manufacturer of Primal Defense) to allow him to do his own study utilizing a patient population that had been largely unresponsive to a wide range of medical treatments to see whether this formula could live up to its claims.*

Among the very positive results obtained for a wide range of conditions (ranging from asthma and poor lung function to constipation, psoriasis and various types of gastrointestinal upset), the results revealed an appreciable lowering in candida yeast counts in each of the eight subjects who showed elevated yeast counts initially, as verified by stool and blood testing before and after administration of the HSOs.

Let me repeat: Every patient with elevated candida levels had a significant reduction. No subjects exhibited any significant increase in yeast counts. Two subjects had candida antibody titers done prior to and after the protocol. Both showed a significant reduction in their titers along with pronounced clinical improvement in their symptoms (see table).

Candida Background & Emerging Drug Resistance
Candida vaginitis is one of the most frequent infections of the female genital tract. Approximately 75 percent of sexually active women suffer at least one episode of candida vaginitis and 10 percent have recurrent episodes. (Pregnancy, diabetes mellitus and antibiotic treatment are the most common predisposing factors.) Most women rely on use of prescription medications to eliminate candida.

Only recently, federal regulators allowed drug makers to offer over-the-counter yeast infections without a prescription. Diflucan (fluconazole), for example, is now approved for the nonprescription treatment of vaginal yeast infection. Suddenly, it seems, women have become acutely aware of yeast infection syndrome. Many women assume every vulvar or vaginal itch they have is due to candida overgrowth. But, sometimes, the problem isn’t specifically yeast infection. So women have to be careful when self-diagnosing and self-medicating.

The problem is that, when you expose naturally occurring vaginal yeast to these drugs anyway, some of the yeast die but others with a slightly different genetic makeup turn out to be resistant. These resistant yeast strains thrive and multiply. Thus, when women really do have yeast infection, these resistant strains of yeast are now more and more often drug resistant. Running to the pharmacy for an OTC medication simply won’t work, notes a health expert. So women must go to their doctor for a much stronger medication. In one clinical study, fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans yeast was found in 13.46 percent of cases.

In addition, when OTC remedies fail to work, doctors may prescribe oral Nizoral (ketoconazole) or Sporanox (itraconazole). Although these are not approved for the treatment of vaginal yeast infection, they are, in fact, reserved for chronic, complicated, recurrent fungal infections.

However, in the case of Sporanox, be aware of severe toxicity, adverse drug reactions and drug interactions. The Food and Drug Administration believes that there is a small but real risk of developing congestive heart failure associated with Sporanox therapy. Sporanox has also been associated with serious liver toxicity, including liver failure and death, with some cases involving patients who had neither pre-existing liver disease nor a serious underlying medical condition.

A safe, efficacious method of treating yeast infection is clearly desirable.

Safety & Efficacy Combined in Fungal Defense
Additional clinical study results and data from thousands of patients who have used the HSOs demonstrate conclusively that these beneficial probiotics are extremely effective in elimination of systemic candida overgrowth—and for other types of fungal infections.

Based on these results, we have done two things. First, our HSOs have been approved for a double-blind placebo-controlled study to reverse leaky gut syndrome and chronic candidiasis at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences, Tempe, Arizona. The study, from a National Institutes of Health-approved institution, should further confirm their safety and efficacy. Second, we felt we could improve this specific application of the HSOs in Primal Defense by combining them with specific anti-fungal herbs in a newly introduced formula called Fungal Defense™.

This solves two problems: one is that most women who use natural healing methods usually end up purchasing several different products, including a probiotic formula and one or more anti-fungal herbal combinations. With Fungal Defense, there is the need for only one formula. Second, we are addressing the primary issues of fungal overgrowth without the use of drugs, thus avoiding drug resistance and adverse effects.

Gut Ecology Disturbed—Understanding the True Cause of Candida & Fungal Infections
The real culprit in candida yeast and other fungal infections is dysbiosis, a bowel condition that occurs when the population of organisms residing within the gastrointestinal tract becomes unbalanced, often resulting in acute or chronic sickness.

Normally, populations of pathogenic flora are kept in balance by competition from good bacteria and because of symbiosis, which is the mutually interdependent relationship among the hundreds of intestinal microbial species. The problem is that after antibiotics have wiped out all or much of the entire gastrointestinal landscape, the bad bacteria have the upper hand, because they love the types of foods and complex sugars that we typically consume in our diet, especially refined sugar found in candy, baked goods and soft drinks.

So, when antibiotics disturb the balance of good and bad bacteria, it’s the bad bacteria that get the head start in repopulating the barren property within your gastrointestinal tract.

Repeated use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and steroid medications can set up conditions for opportunistic overgrowth of organisms that are not affected by the drugs or that are able to re-colonize rapidly once treatment has ended. This is particularly true of yeast and fungal organisms. I can’t tell you how often we hear from patients treated with antibiotics, especially women patients, whose bodies are overrun by candida. For men, such treatment often results in residual urinary tract bacteria, resulting in urinary tract infections and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate gland).

With HSOs, we have some of the strongest, toughest beneficial bacterial strains common to the human body. When patients ingest HSOs, these microorganisms take up residence both in the gastrointestinal and vaginal tissues. They displace harmful pathogenic fungal species, causing their populations to decline dramatically, restoring homeostatic balance. They also produce bactericidal chemicals that decimate pathogenic bacterial strains.

Cellulase Destroys Candida Cell Walls
The cell walls of fungal cells are composed of chitin, the same protein that gives strength to the exoskeletons of insects and that is similar to the fiber cellulose. The membrane of the candida yeast, in particular, is composed largely of chitin. As such it is thought to be vulnerable to digestion by cellulase, a fiber-digesting enzyme not produced by the human body. For example, Russian scientists now use the proprietary cellulase enzyme Celloviridine G20x to breakdown chitin, according to a recent report from the Bioinzheneriya Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. With the cell wall decimated, the candida yeast dies. That is why we include cellulase in the formula. Protease, another enzyme we have included, is also important to assure that none of the toxic fungal byproducts produced as the candida yeast dies are able to exert any poisonous effects to the blood. Thus, we avoid any kind of toxic byproducts of the healing process.

With HSOs, we have some of the strongest, toughest beneficial bacterial strains common to the human body. When patients ingest HSOs, these microorganisms take up residence both in hte gastrointestinal and vaginal tissues. They displace harmful pathogenic fungal species, causing their populations to decline dramatically, restoring homeostatic balance. They also produce bacterial chemicals that decimate pathogenic bacterial strains.

Fungal Defense also provides traditional antimicrobial herbs, including wild oregano with carvacrol and thymol; olive leaf extract—standardized to provide 20 percent oleuropins; and two freshly juiced botanicals, garlic and yucca. Our Poten-Zyme fermentation process further potentiates the garlic and yucca.

Including each of these herbs is important for insuring complete resolution of symptoms. Each of these herbs has strong antiviral, antibacterial and anti-fungal activities. So they will be good for your overall health in many ways besides directly taking care of candida overgrowth.

I mention this because, as I stated earlier, not all so-called “yeast type” infections are due to solely to candida overgrowth. In fact, some are protozoal in nature and could cause patients to be prescribed far more toxic medications such as Flagyl (metronidazole), which has caused “noteworthy” excesses of breast cancer in rodents and is characterized as having “considerable carcinogenic potential.”

Disclaimer: These Articles and or information are not intended to mitigate the symptoms or cure the specific diagnosis of cancer or cancer related disease states.