What’s The Best Probiotic For Candida

The Best Probiotic For Your Candida

Probiotics are acknowledged as very healthy for anyone but for Candida patients, they are especially important to repopulate the gut immune system with healthy bacteria.

Unfortunately, probiotics are the wild west of medicine no one seems to be able to say with authority which ones are effective and which ones are a waste of money.

I have been doing my own research on the probiotics available and believe some are of greater value to my Candida patients.

When You Were Young

First, some embryology: when you were in your mothers womb you had a sterile gut this means no bacteria were present. During a normal vaginal delivery, you were exposed to Bacteroides, a bacteria in the vaginal tissue and along with your mothers breast milk your digestive immune system began to evolve.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the past few decades was delivered vaginally and not many babies were breastfed for a very long period, if at all. Add to this our poor Western diet laden with sugar and processed foods, and our gut is out of balance. Also, antibiotics and hormones created drastic changes in gut immunity. Hence, many women and even men are Candida victims.

What Are Probiotics

Probiotic supplements are designed to guard against belly acids making them a more effective method of getting more good bacteria in our body. When gut bacteria is imbalanced it leads to inflammation which promotes conditions like candida yeast overgrowth and leaky gut.

How Probiotics Help

The 2nd Best Probiotic: Just Thrive Soil

• Contains 4 soil-based probiotic strains
• 3 billion CFUs per capsule
• No fillers, Gluten-free, non-GMO, and dairy-free
• Guaranteed to survive stomach acid
• Contains antioxidants that maximise absorption

Our number 2 option is this 100% soil-based probiotic from Just Thrive that only consists of 4 bacillus strains delivered in 3 billion CFUs per capsule. If youre wondering why it only has a few strains, thats because there are only a few well-researched soil-based probiotic strains that have been shown to be beneficial, and three of them are included here. So that in and of itself is a good sign.

So while I highly recommend a wide array of strains for lactobacillus/bifidobacterium probiotics, for a soil-based probiotic like Just Thrive, 4 is actually what you want to see.

Because its a soil-based probiotic, it can naturally survive stomach acid and it doesnt need to be refrigerated to stay alive. Because of its high survival, 3 billion CFUs is more than plenty to get rid of your candidiasis.

While this simple formula might not seem like much, it was actually developed with the help of a probiotic expert named Dr. Simon Cutting, and one of the patented strains produces an antioxidant that improves its absorption once it gets into the gut. This might be why it works so quickly and effectively.

And with 960 reviews and a 4.6 star rating, its hard to complain, especially when you see testimonials like these:

Pros

Cons

Pros

Cons

• Only 35 billion CFUs

What Type And Dose Of Probiotic Is Best For Infants

Most of the infant studies used an infant formula fortified with category 1 probiotics. The exact strains varied from study to study. Dosages varied between studies as well, but 10 billion CFU per day appears a good general starting point. Talk to your pediatrician before choosing a probiotic for your child.

Also Check: Are You Supposed To Take Probiotics Everyday

Advantages Of Using Probiotic

1. They help to balance the bacterias in the digestive tract. Since it helps to boost immune systems, prevention of infections or diseases tend to happen. Pathogens are also fought off due to the stronger immune system. It also helps you to develop natural defenses against candida.

2. They can help balance the acidic level in your guts. In an alkaline environment, Candida yeast can transform into its fungal or pathogenic form. Antibiotics have been found to be one of the reasons your guts can become too alkaline. They kill the acid producing bacterias which a good probiotic will help solve.

3.. Another advantage is that they provide your system with a lot of good bacterias giving little or no space left for the candida yeasts. In other words, they crowd out Candida yeasts.

A Deeper Look Into Candidiasis

Candida overgrowth is one of the most common causes of infections in humans. We often associate it with genital infections. But unknown to many, there are actually four types of candidiasis:

Each of these types of yeast infections can bring a whole host of varying medical conditions.

You May Like: Can I Take Fiber And Probiotics Together

Yogurt And Other Natural Options

Some natural options may provide relief from a yeast infection, but medical experts agree there isnt sufficient evidence to prove if theyre effective treatment options. At this point, home remedies may be best for preventing new or recurring yeast infections:

• Practice good hygiene: Change out of sweaty or wet clothing or bathing suits as soon as possible.

• Wear cotton underwear: Cotton is breathable and absorbs moisture, which can help keep your vagina dry.

• Dont put foods into your vagina: Using apple cider vinegar, tea tree oil, yogurt, avocado oil, or any other food in your vagina will likely cause more harm.

• Avoid scented products: Scented tampons, pads, bubble baths, and laundry detergents can disrupt the balance of bacteria in the vagina.

• Do not douche: The vagina is self-cleaning, so you never need to douche. Doing so can lead to a yeast infection or other vaginal infections.

Probiotics: Custom Probiotics Adult Formula Cp

As indicated earlier, causes of Candida are manifold including changing of the intestinal and vaginal microflora, which create an imbalance between good and bad bacteria. The more imbalance that exists, the more symptoms are varied. In addition, the strain type of candida overgrowth affects the severity of symptoms and duration of treatment.

You May Like: Best Probiotic To Take During Pregnancy

Are Any Probiotics Not Recommended For Candida

In general, there arent any probiotics that are contraindicated in Candida overgrowth in fact, most probiotic bacteria offer some degree of anti-Candida potential through competitive inhibition/competitive exclusion and by lowering the pH in the intestines like most pathogens, this troublesome yeast prefers an alkaline environment.

There is however some debate over whether an anti-Candida protocol should include prebiotics, in the form of fructo-oligosaccharides or inulin. One opinion is that prebiotics can feed the Candida, and potentially worsen the dysbiosis. However, others believe that the positive effects of taking prebiotics from a high-quality source, such as encouraging the growth of friendly bacteria in the gut, and increasing short-chain-fatty-acid production outweigh any potential negatives. If you are interested in finding out more about the debate you can read our blog over on the Probiotics Learning Lab, ‘Does FOS feed bad bacteria?‘

Best Value Probiotics For Candida

Seeking Health Probiota 12

Seeking Health Probiota 12: is one of the most broad-spectrum probiotic and it is also inexpensive with great reviews. Contains 7 lactobacillus species, 4 bifidobacterium species, and 1 Streptococcus species for a total of 26 billion probiotics per serving.

These include Lactobacillus rhamnosus , Lactobacillus plantarum , Lactobacillus acidophilus , Lactobacillus casei , Lactobacillus salivarius , Lactobacillus bulgaricus , and Lactobacillus paracasei . The Bifidobacterium species are Bifidobacterium bifidum , Bifidobacterium infantis , Bifidobacterium breve , Bifidobacterium lactis , and Streptococcus thermophilus.

The Seeking Health brand is third-party-inspected for purity and quality and is GMP certified. It is also free of harmful additives and fillers, with only gellan gum, vegetable fibers, and L-leucine.

Another perk of this brand is that it is doctor-formulated by Dr. Lynch.

You can find this product on . But, you should know that you can get the product at a much better price directly from the company. Compare here.

NSP Nutrition 40 Billion

Another very cost-effective probiotic is called NSP Nutrition 40 billionthat contains Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus paracasei, and also contains the prebiotic fructooligosaccharides and marine polysaccharide complex.

Other ingredients are safe and include rice and L-leucine with the vegetable fiber cellulose.

Also Check: Does My Baby Need A Probiotic

Probiotics For Irritable Bowel Syndrome

• The evidence to support the use of probiotics in irritable bowel syndrome is inconclusive .
• A 4 week trial of probiotics in the form of yoghurts or other fermented milk products can be considered, however, some of these products also contain ingredients that may worsen IBS symptoms, such as fructans, fructose or lactose.
• A recent systematic review has concluded that there is some evidence that probiotics, e.g. Lactobacillus, may improve the overall symptoms, abdominal pain, bloating and distension in patients with IBS. However, there is little or no evidence that they will improve other symptoms such as diarrhoea, constipation and flatus.4

How To Choose A Probiotic

When it comes to preventing and treating conditions that are more prevalent in womenincluding mastitis, urinary tract infections, and yeast infectionsyou dont have to rely on the same probiotic someone else in your family takes for digestive health.

When choosing a probiotic, its best to keep a few things in mind:

• Your age
• Your health problem or issue
• Whether a probiotic has been shown to help that health problem or issue
• The products quality and formulation

Specific to women, some strains of Lactobacillus have been shown to help prevent and treat bacterial vaginosis and vulvovaginal candidiasis, says Hannah Holscher, PhD, a registered dietitian and director of the University of Illinois Nutrition and Human Microbiome Laboratory in Urbana, Illinois.

Each strain has different probiotic health benefits, and its important to select one that has been studied in the same reference population. For example, an adult woman may not see the same health benefits of a probiotic strain that was shown to improve a health outcome in infants.

You May Like: Probiotic Supplements With Lactobacillus And Bifidobacterium

Probiotics For Urinary Tract Infections

• Urinary tract infections occur in kidneys, ureters, urethra or bladder. Probiotics are thought to work by preventing bacteria that cause infection from climbing up the urinary tract and causing infection. The currently available evidence shows that probiotics do no reduce the risk of UTI in adults and children.7
• Read more about UTIs

I Needed A Healthy Diet To Fight Candida

Taking probiotics was not the only step in fighting Candida. A vital step is to starve/weaken the Candida. This was accomplished by cutting out nearly all sugar, grains, alcohol and legumes from my diet for a period of exactly 105 days . My sister saw results much faster, in about 60 days or so. But she cant stray too far from the principles of the diet or the Candida can come back.

Also Check: Probiotic For Digestive Health Supplement

How To Tell If A Probiotic Is Working

1st Take stock of your symptoms

They might be fatigue and depression, or bloating, or joint pain, or constipation, or insomnia, or unstable dose of thyroid medication. Whatever they are, take stock of how often and how severe your symptoms are.

2nd Reevaluate these symptoms after 3-4 weeks of probiotic therapy

Are you improving? If so, keep on the protocol. You are not looking for complete resolution, per se. If so, that is great. But dont expect everything to be fixed completely at the 3-4 week mark. You are looking for a clear trend of improvement. If so, great, we are on the right track. Keep going.

3rd Look for when you hit your peak improvement

Once you peak or plateau, great. This is another milestone. Keep this constant for another four weeks, so your body can integrate and you can lock in this new balance.

After four weeks

Finally Try to gradually find the minimal effective dose

Technically, you dont have to do this but I find less is more with supplements. I like people to cut their dose in half, then reevaluate after 3-4 weeks. If this goes well, try coming off completely.

These are just rough guidelines, this is not that precise so dont stress yourself out. This is a simple process of gradually trying to wean off. If at some point your symptoms return, it means you should stay on the probiotics.

You can try weaning again in a few months. Simple. Dont overcomplicate this.

Here are a few scenarios of what dose weaning might look like.

Probiotics For Overall Health

When purchasing any probiotic for overall health, a person should be aware that there is little research into the health benefits of probiotics and may find it difficult to determine their effectiveness.

While it is common for some people to take probiotic supplements to promote their overall health, and suggested by many healthcare providers for various conditions, it is important to understand that not all probiotics are effective or safe for everyone . It is much more important for an individual to support their overall health by focusing on diet and lifestyle as a whole rather than on taking one specific supplement.

The health benefits of probiotics are strain-specific, and probiotics for overall health often contain a lot of live microorganisms rather than single strains. This makes it difficult for a person to determine whether research supports the health benefits that the manufacturers claim.

Three probiotic options for overall health include:

Best for a raw probiotic

Persona claims that this vegetarian probiotic can support healthy digestion, immune health, and emotional well-being.

Each capsule contains 10 billion CFU of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG.

The company recommends people take the probiotic differently depending on the time of day:

• in the morning, take with or after breakfast
• in the evening, take with a snack or dinner
• at night, take an hour before going to bed

Also Check: Pro Bio Gen Probiotics Review

Why Probiotic Triple Therapy Is So Effective

At the end of the day, you want results. You want a probiotic protocol to reduce or eliminate whatever symptoms you are suffering from. As a doctor, I want this for you also, but I understand that we need to fix the underlying cause of your symptoms. So, instead of using a probiotic that is marketed for your symptom, we go a level deeper and use Probiotic Triple Therapy to ensure we support a balanced healthy gut environment.

This thorough probiotic therapy fixes the underlying cause of your symptoms and thus your symptoms resolve. The symptoms that improve after balancing your gut could be anything from digestive symptoms all the way through mood or metabolism. This probiotic protocol is not a cure all, but gut health is clearly a foundational aspect of wellbeing.

Important reminder, probiotics are not a get out of jail free card for an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. These both must be in place to see optimal response to any probiotic regime.

How Long To Take Probiotics For Candida

Before you take probiotics, theres another dietary tip you should be aware of. In addition to ditching foods with sugar, or foods that convert into sugar, also avoid fermented foods. They may be trendy and have a good reputation for being healthy. Thats because of their probiotic content. But fermented foods also feed bad bacteria.

Now then, how long should you take probiotics for candida? It depends. Have a history of lots of antibiotics usage? It could take much longer to colonize your gut with enough probiotics.

In general, though, take a probiotic supplement with at least 10 billion colony forming units every day. You should notice improvements within a couple weeks. Notice that you have bloating or other digestive upset after you start taking probiotics? Then you might want to take a supplement with lower CFU count.

If you dont notice any adverse reactions, add another 10-billion count pill.

Soil-based probiotics have a reputation of being more beneficial. The reason why is they survive the journey past your acidic stomach into your intestine. However, soil probiotics can be more expensive and harder to come by.

It can take up to a couple months to kill off the excess candida yeast.

Remember to take your probiotics every single day. Consider your gut health as important as dental hygiene. In other words, you should brush and floss every day. And take your probiotics.

You May Like: Culturelle Vs Nature Made Probiotic

Do Probiotics Require Refrigeration

The bottom line

No, not by the consumer. A storage temperature that is less than 77 °F is likely fine.

During short term storage , refrigeration is not required. One caveat, if your residence is hot then you should keep your probiotics in the fridge.

During longer term storage , yes probiotics should be refrigerated.

You can store your probiotics in the fridge if youd like, just understand its not required this is welcomed news by most of my patients as it makes life easier .

Ambient temp is OK

The journal Microorganisms in 2019 essentially states its OK to store at room temperature.

probiotics may be incorporated in dietary supplements and other dry food matrices which are expected to have up to 24 months of stability at ambient temperature and humidity.

Specifically, less than 77 °F and youre OK.

This is via the International Probiotics Association 2019 guidelines recommend storing category 1 and 2 probiotics at less than 77 °F.

Hot temps are bad

The Journal of Applied Microbiology found storage at a temperature of 104 Fahrenheit was damaging to probiotics.

We provide freezer bags when shipping certain probiotics, but this isnt really necessary.

Some evidence has even found that probiotics that were killed by heat still had positive effects!