beauty & the yeast - preventing yeast infections

Vegetarian Times, July, 2000 by Kathryn Drury

Prevention is the best medicine for conquering these infections for good

`Not another yeast infection!" thought Hannah, who at 44 hadn't suffered from that vaginal pain, intense itching and clumpy discharge since her early 20s. But for some inexplicable reason, she'd had two within the past six months. Her periods were becoming slightly irregular too, which clued her doctor in to the fact that she was in perimenopause--the time when the body is gearing up (or winding down) toward menopause. As estrogen levels drop with age, the lining of the vagina begins to thin, leaving it more vulnerable to infection. Hannah's doctor prescribed a cream to clear up the current infection, but to prevent recurrence, he told her she would have to make some lifestyle changes. To replace what her body was losing during perimenopause, she added natural estrogens like soy and flax to her diet. She also switched her daily snack of cola and cookies to a cup of plain yogurt and a glass of unsweetened cranberry juice. That was two years ago; Hannah's stuck to her new habits and has been infection-free ever since.

Yeast infections are caused by an overgrowth of Candida albicans, which essentially are good yeast (called Candida) gone bad. Yeast are microscopic fungi that naturally live within the human body. In fact, Candida exist everywhere--in our food, in the air and in soil. And because yeast flourish in warm, moist, dark places and feed on sugars and proteins, they thrive in our intestinal tract. What's important to understand is that most of the time yeast are harmless. This is because its population is kept in balance by friendly "helper bacteria" (called flora), which live in our bodies and help us digest food and ward off infections from other bacteria, viruses or parasites. And even though the "bad" yeast (Candida albicans) is always present, it's usually kept in check by these friendly bacteria. But under certain conditions--such as pregnancy, antibiotics use or contracting diseases like diabetes and AIDS--Candida albicans is allowed to flourish unchecked, causing what is commonly known as a yeast infection, or candidiasis.

While we tend to think of yeast infections as a "female" problem, men and children get them, too. Men typically experience the infection as "jock itch," whereas babies can get it as they pass through the mother's birth canal. Eyes, ears, skin, nails and even lungs can be affected. And even though many conventional doctors feel that Candida albicans rarely spreads throughout the body and therefore cannot be responsible for widespread health problems, other experts contend that yeast infections are systemic and to blame for many maladies, including sugar cravings, poor memory, anxiety, indigestion and chronic fatigue.

The Female Factor

The fact of the matter is that yeast infections are most common among women, with as many as 75 percent of us contracting at least one during our lifetime. When an overgrowth of Candida albicans infects the vagina, it produces a telltale itch and lumpy, white discharge. You may feel a burning sensation, especially when you urinate. Women are most susceptible to yeast infections because the warm, dark, damp vagina is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and because it's open to the outside world. And even though the vagina is self-cleansing and home to those same friendly bacteria that control yeast growth, the delicate balance can easily be tipped. "Birth control pills, hormone replacement pills, pregnancy and diabetes can all change the environment of the vagina," explains Kathy McManus, M.S., R.D., and director of clinical nutrition at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She adds that women seem even more prone to infection the week prior to menstruation. "It's clearly a hormonal fluctuation thing," she says, "but we're not exactly sure how it all works."

John McDougall, M.D., a holistic specialist at St. Helena Center for Health in Deer Park, Calif., believes that yeast infections are so prevalent in women today because of the way we eat. "Most American women have immune systems compromised by the standard American diet rich in fat, cholesterol, meat and vegetable oils," he says. Compounding the problem, he adds, is the incredibly high amount of refined sugar we consume. Sugar is what yeast feed on, so when we eat a lot of it the bad yeast flourish and throw our bacterial balance out of whack. This is when yeast infections occur. Sugar increases yeast production in a process similar to the making of pizza dough: You put a cup of warm water in a bowl, dump in a packet of dry yeast and add a tablespoon of sugar--the sugar feeds the yeast, helping it multiply.

Another reason yeast infections are so common has to do with our overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics work wonders in fighting infections, but they aren't selective enough to know which bacteria to kill and which to let live. And so, explains McDougall, "antibiotics destroy the friendly flora that balance the yeast." If you are about to start taking antibiotics, you can reduce your chances of getting a yeast infection by eating one cup of plain yogurt with live cultures once a day throughout the course of the medication and for 10 days afterward. You can also take capsules of probiotics like acidophilus (available in natural food store refrigerators) to replace the flora killed by the antibiotics. Of course, the best prevention is to take antibiotics only when they are truly necessary.