A series of anticandida treatments from garlic to prescription drugs have had no effect. No "die-off" reaction, no improvement, nothing. I think this pretty well closes the case on candida. The microbe, and I'm sure there's a microbe at the bottom of all this, must be some form of bad bacteria.
The day before new years John had a terrible reaction to a simple stir fry. This was a low carb meal, nothing but meat and vegetables. There were no sauces, and few spices. Granted, the dish had its share of salicylates and amines, but I think we've ruled those out. That's not the problem. So where does that leave us?
The vegetables, asparagus and broccoli and cabbage, are all high in oligosaccharides - sugars that no human can digest. (I described these in an earlier section.) These make their way to the colon and feed the microbe, in this case a bad microbe, which then dumps its toxins into the blood stream. Sure enough, the smell is back, resembling fermented grain. But today we have a portable ethanol meter, the kind used by drunk drivers. It reads zero, no ethanol at all. But there's definitely something there; I can smell it from two meters away. I wish I had a mass spec.
I'm slowly starting to decipher the sugar connection. It doesn't matter how much sugar he eats; it only matters how much sugar reaches the colon. And oligosaccharides always reach the colon, every single gram. He shouldn't eat any of these, at least not yet. No wonder the failsafe diet was such a disaster. It is replete with wheat, oats, cabbage, brussel sprouts, rutabaga, and lots of legumes, a veritable cocktail of oligosaccharides. So I gave up on the failsafe diet and started counting carbs, but I was still serving lots of low-carb vegetables and legumes. These all contain non digestible oligosaccharides (NDOs), which pass straight to the colon and feed the bacteria.
I typed "oligosaccharides" into a search engine and found lots of articles, all promoting the health benefits of these compounds. NDO supplements are available everywhere, for humans and for livestock. These sugars usually promote the growth of "good" intestinal bacteria, which protect the host from various digestive disorders. I couldn't find a single article that suggested these sugars might feed an unwanted colony of "bad" bacteria. Nobody is talking about an NDO free diet. Consequently, there is no comprehensive list of foods to avoid, nor is there a list of safe foods that are free of NDOs. Other than the obvious [meat is good and legumes are bad], there isn't much to go on.
While trolling through the Internet I stumbled upon a fascinating <ndo symposium>, and I wrote a quick email to the keynote speaker. To my surprise he replied right away, and was very interested in our story. I gave him a one-page summary, including a description of the smells.
| Candida doesn't usually smell like that. That's propionic or butyric acid. You're right, sugar is being mal-digested. His small intestine could be physically short, or he could be enzyme deficient. Any form of sugar that reaches the colon could spell trouble. I'm guessing the bacteria is <Clostridium Defficile>, or a close relative thereof. ... Don't try a GI antibiotic though; that could wipe out more friends than enemies and make things worse. ... Don't try a dairy probiotic either, such as yogert. If he is even a little bit lactose intolerant, which would not be unusual, the lactose sugar will pass to the colon and feed your unwanted guests. This will completely swamp the probiotic benefits of the yogert. |
Of course we had been giving him yogert all along.
We need to consider each sugar in turn. Pure glucose is probably ok. It is absorbed quickly and never gets to the colon. The same is probably true of fructose. If we ever return to baking we should use these simple sugars (available at healthfood stores), rather than table sugar. Fructose would be preferable, since it is sweeter (you need less of it), and it is not as hard on the pancreas.
Starch is broken down by amylase, and I don't think this is a big problem. Apparently he has enough amylase to go around. That's why he can eat lots of rice and potatoes. But not wheat or oats; these are high in NDOs.
What about sucrose and lactose? These require invertase and lactase respectively, and I fear he is deficient in both. Too much sucrose, from natural fruit or from the sugar bowl, will exceed his digestive capacity, and the remainder moves on to the colon and feeds the bacteria. So we must continue to count carbs, at least the disaccharides.
In contrast, somebody else might have enough invertase, but not enough amylase. This person could eat lots of fruit and cane sugar, but would have to monitor his starch intake. You have to test each sugar in turn, according to its metabolic pathway.
As you can see, we are constructing a rather elaborate formula based upon the quantity and type of each carbohydrate. Other variables may also influence the rise and fall of his parasitic colony. No wonder it has taken us four years to get this far.
Below are a few important differences between the yeast controlling diet (Y) and the bacteria controlling diet (B). Bear in mind, these observations are based on one, and only one patient. That's not much to go on, but somebody's got to be first.
Y: Yeast spreads throughout the body; the small and large intestines, the mouth, and other mucus membranes. It lies in wait, ready to metabolize sugar before you can. Thus the Y diet is very low carb. The lower the better.
B: The bacteria usually remain in the colon. They thrive on the excess sugar that reaches them, but do not have ready access to the sugar that is absorbed by the small intestine. Make sure you can use all the sugar you eat. If you have plenty of amylase (the enzyme that digests starch), and you can absorb the resulting glucose, you can probably eat rice and potatoes in moderation. You must determine your capacity for glucose, fructose, starch, sucrose, and lactose. Be especially careful of lactose; many people do not digest this sugar well, and the leftovers move on to the colon and feed the colony. Also, realize that the limits may not be additive. If you can eat 20g of sucrose, or 40g of starch, that does not assure the safety of a meal that contains 20g of sucrose plus 40g of starch. The sum may overwhelm your capacity to digest and absorb, and once again the overflow feeds the pathogens.
Y: Yeast eat sugar, and that's about it. There's not much else you can eat that will feed the yeast.
B: In anybody's book, fiber is "healthy"; but remember, fiber is nondigestible by definition. And if you can't digest it, it goes to the colon. Many strains of bacteria can live on cellulose - just ask a cow. So fiber should be kept to a minimum. We've started serving oranges instead of apples, because apples have 4 grams of fiber (with the skin), and oranges have less. Same carbs, same vitamins and minerals, less fiber.
Y: Almost any vegetable is fair game. Eat lots of meat and vegetables!
B: Avoid vegetables that contain oligosaccharides. You can't digest these complex sugars, and neither can yeast, but bacteria can. The candida diet permits broccoli, onions, cabbage, and beans; my son can't touch these items.
Y: Grains are very high in carbs, so you can't have any for a while. When you are ready to reintroduce grains, use whole grains - they're healthier.
B: You can probably eat a modest amount of starch right away, but don't eat any whole grains. The bran contains fiber and oligosaccharides. In fact the only grain that is safe is white rice. White refined wheat has some oligosaccharides, but you might be able to eat some pasta in moderation. Corn contains more, and whole grains contain even more, so don't go there. The ibs diet also rejects whole grains in favor of white refined flour, which is why it seemed to help John, at least for a while.
Y: Spices are ok, except for the "hot" spices. Eat lots of garlic, because garlic kills yeast. In fact, take some garlic pills while you're at it.
B: Spices are ok, except for the "hot" spices. They don't inhibit the bacteria in any way, they just make your food taste better. Garlic is the one spice you shouldn't eat - the only spice that contains oligosaccharides. Garlic pills could make things worse.
Y: Yeast creates tendrils that poke holes in the intestines. This leads to "leaky gut" syndrome. Soon undigested molecules are passing into the blood stream, and the patient develops sensitivities, or even allergies to the foods he eats every day. Artificial additives can also cause trouble as they slip through the gut and enter the blood stream.
B: I don't know if bacteria damage the gut in this fashion. John doesn't seem to have any food sensitivities at all, even though he has hosted his bacterial colony for at least five years. Artificials don't bother him either. BHA, BHT, yellow #5, calcium propionate; it doesn't matter.
Y: The patient's immune system is compromised; he'll catch every disease that comes along.
B: John rarely gets sick. When he does catch a cold he throws it off in a couple days, while his sisters are down for a week.
Y: Your doctor can prescribe antifungal drugs to kill most of the candida. You'll experience a "die-off" reaction, then you'll feel a lot better. Stay on diet to keep the yeast in check.
B: Your doctor can prescribe antifungal drugs, but it won't do any good. No die-off reaction, no improvement, nothing. He could prescribe an antibiotic such as vancomycen, which would wipe out friends and enemies alike. I'm not sure where this would leave the patient; we've never tried it.
YB: Yeast byproducts smell one way and bacterial byproducts smell another. I'm sure my dog could render a diagnosis from across the room. But I'm only a human, so the smell really has to hit me in the face before I even notice it, and when it does, I still can't identify the pathogen. Wouldn't a dog make a great diagnostician?!
Y: Many books have been written about candida. The diet is spelled out in detail, including recipes and a 14-day eating plan.
B: I wonder if the antibacterial dietary regimen will someday be part of a standard medical text book?