Carbs Don’t Cause Candida Infections

Carb avoidance is the #1 intervention recommended for getting rid of Candida overgrowths, despite little research supporting this intervention. Many people who try to follow these low-carb Candida diets seldom get better and instead become miserable about their limited food choices.  

Most studies showing that Candida feeds on carbs are done in vitro—in test tubes and petri dishes. In such a setting, an adaptable fungus, like Candida, will gladly feed on glucose. This does not mirror the environment of the human body. In a healthy body, Candida is constrained to the large intestine, where glucose doesn’t reach. More than that, when researchers in Germany tested whether high-carb diets lead to greater Candida colonization, or whether feeding people pure sugar on top of their current diets would increase Candida colonization, they found no correlation.  

Carbs aren’t what drives Candida infections. What makes the body vulnerable to Candida overgrowing in the colon, spreading to the small intestine and stomach, and colonizing the rest of the body are:  

•⁠ ⁠Poor immune function 

•⁠ ⁠Damage to the gut lining and the mucus layer lining the colon 

•⁠ ⁠High estrogen levels  

•⁠ ⁠The use of certain drugs (e.g., PPIs, hormonal contraceptives, iron pills, corticosteroids) 

•⁠ ⁠Gut dysbiosis and antibiotic use (which wipe out beneficial short-chain fatty-acid-producing bacteria that keep Candida in check)  

•⁠ ⁠Inadequate saliva production, not enough stomach acid and poor bile flow 

Nearly all of these risk factors are secondary to micronutrient deficiencies, chronic stress, and most importantly, metabolic impairments caused by poor thyroid function.

Any protocol that fails to focus on making the human host healthy is bound to fail. Attempting to “starve Candida” is more likely to just starve and further weaken the host (you) than the fungus.

Candida is not a pathogen. It’s a pathobiont.

“A pathobiont is a type of microorganism that is normally harmless and exists in a symbiotic relationship with its host, but can become pathogenic and cause disease when environmental conditions or immune function are altered.”

Up to 80% of healthy people have some degree of Candida albicans colonization. In a healthy body, Candida exists as a normal part of the microbiome.  It’s the job of the host’s body to keep Candida in check and stop it from getting out of line.

Check out my article to learn more.