• steroid hormone medications such as cortisone, corticosteroids, often prescribed for skin conditions such as rashes, eczema, or psoriasis, as well as for systemic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
• prolonged or repeated use of antibiotics which are frequently given for urinary and ear infections, sinusitis, bronchitis, and other infections; Candida overgrowth can be triggered at a very young age when children are first being treated with antibiotics.
• ulcer medications such as "Tagamet^®" and "Zantac^®" which reduce the amount of acid in the stomach and intestines.
• oral contraceptives and estrogen replacement therapy.
• immune-damaging illnesses such as diabetes.
• suppressed immune systems form AIDS / HIV, radiation and chemotherapy, and organ transplant surgery.
• a high sugar and starch diet.

Sugar in the diet can greatly contribute to Candida overgrowth.  Yeasts lives on sugar--brewing and wine making depend on yeast to digest sugar, producing alcohol as a waste product.  Starches (carbohydrates) in breads, pasta, and potatoes are converted rapidly by our digestion process into sugar.  Carbohydrates begin to break down into sugar with our saliva, and simple carbohydrates can be converted into sugar in minutes.  So, a diet high in sugar and starch feeds Candida, and some strains of yeast like Candida albicans can grow very quickly.

Antibiotics may be the single greatest cause of Candidiasis, because antibiotic treatment for infections kills the "good" intestinal bacteria, as well as the targeted infection-causing bacteria.  Normally Candida albicans and other yeast that is present in the gastrointestinal tract is held in check by the presence of "beneficial flora" that control yeast and other potential invaders by crowding them out and by producing natural anti-fungal substances.  Acidophilus and other good bacteria produce most of our B vitamins, including biotin.  Biotin suppresses the ability of Candida to form hyphae, thus preventing the yeast from entering it invasive state.  However, when biotin is lacking, as a result of damage from antibiotics to Acidophilus, Bifidobacteria, and other intestinal microbes, yeast has a chance to change from its' simple yeast into the damaging fungal form.

Healthy bacterial colonies in the intestines can usually withstand one or two short episodes of antibiotics without serious harm.  If, however, use of antibiotics is frequent or prolonged as with a course for acne treatment or a more difficult infection, then the spread of Candida albicans becomes inevitable, especially if the death of the bacteria is accompanied by a diet that promotes the growth of yeast.  A vicious cycle may develop as a result.  Antibiotics foster the growth of Candida, which suppresses the immune system.  An individual with suppressed immune function is much more susceptible, not only to Candidasis but to bacterial infections, which are then tested with antibiotics, which, in turn, increase the growth of Candida albicans and so on.

Frequently, Candidiasis is caused by a combination of factors.  Over a dew years a patient may have had several series of antibiotics for a variety of conditions, may have been using steroids, perhaps in the form of birth control pills or treatment for arthritis or psoriasis, and may have consumed a Coca-cola^®, Pop Tart^®, Dunkin Donuts^®, French Fry, pizza, high sugar, high starch diet.  Consequently, conditions are created for yeast to grow, causing an opportunistic Candida albicans infection.

Candida albicans exists quite normally in low concentrations on the skin and inside the digestive, respiratory and reproductive organs.  Because Candida is a normal constituent of human micro-ecology, the mere presence of Candida is not sufficient to make a diagnosis of "infection."

Candida albicans may cause jock itch, athlete's foot, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, poor digestion, burping, lower gas (flatulence), fingernail and toenail infections, and diaper rash, and thrush in infants.  Candida albicans also causes vaginitis - inflammation and invasion of the vaginal mucosa, especially during the third trimester of pregnancy and in women who take the pill.  The predisposing factors seem to be hormonal, associated with changes in the balance of cell types in the lining epithelium of the vagina.  A similar condition termed stomatitis is common in people who wear dentures.  Candida can adhere to denture resin, and high sugar levels in the diet can also increase the adhesiveness of the yeast.

In some of these conditions, the Candida albicans infection and its cause are obvious.  One of the best examples of this disease is termed thrush - a white, crusty speckling of the tongue and the back of the throat caused by a rapid and uncontrolled growth of Candida.  This is common in newborn babies, perhaps resulting from passage through an infected birth canal from a mother with vaginitis.  It is common in AIDS patients and people who have had a prolonged course of antibacterial therapy.

Systemic Candidiasis is a more serious condition, when yeast cells proliferate in the circulatory system.  This can occur after invasive surgical techniques, including the insertion of intravenous catheters to which the Candida cells adhere, providing a base from which the cells can bud and be disseminated.  When transported by the blood stream, Candida albicans can infect almost any organ of the body, and can be fatal.  The technical definition of systemic yeast is yeast growing throughout the body and blood.  This very rarely happens, and when it does, the results can be deadly.  The victims most commonly are immune-system compromised--PWA's (People With Aids), and those with artificially suppressed immune systems for organ transplantation and cancer therapy.  In the immune-compromised, fungus and yeast can transit the blood stream to the heart, lungs, brain and other organs, growing violently, and sometimes uncontrollably.