# Wacky "yeast-fighting" diet - help me with sources and research **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wacky-yeast-fighting-diet-help-me-with-sources-and-research/529790 "2010-02-20T19:12:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wacky-yeast-fighting-diet-help-me-with-sources-and-research/529790/1 "2010-02-20T19:12:01Z")
I’m preparing a presentation on candidiasis, and I’m running across treatment recommendations that call for avoiding sugar, artificial sweeteners, dairy, alcohol, cheese, caffeine, gluten, bread, nuts, mushrooms, and vinegar. Now, I’ve found one small study that found a reduction in vaginal candidiasis when participants reduced dairy, sugar, and artificial sweeteners. I can only access the abstract, so I have no idea how the study was constructed, but I’m willing to include a mention of it, with the caveat that it’s more of a call for further study than a conclusive study itself, given there were only 100 subjects. Now, as for the rest of the list. My experience and instinct tell me that this is a load of woo crap being peddled to the gullible. And further, that the items chosen are based on magical thinking and ignorance. I.e., mushrooms are fungus, and candida is fungus, therefore, mushrooms “feed” candida and must be eliminated. Likewise, because _candida albicans_ and _saccharomyces cerevisiae_ are both called “yeast,” bread and alcohol are no-nos. But I don’t have a lot of concrete evidence. Is anyone aware of any research or scholarly articles addressing this stuff? In the absence of publications supporting or refuting my conclusion, am I making sense here? If I can’t find something substantial to refer people to, I can either ignore these suggestions entirely (there are plenty of other reasonable treatments to discuss) or I could mention that I see these suggestions in some of the literature, but aside from the sweeteners and dairy, they do not seem to have any basis in fact, but from misunderstandings as outlined above. Help me fight some ignorance here! ---
**Author:** ![petalpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@petalpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petalpusher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wacky-yeast-fighting-diet-help-me-with-sources-and-research/529790/2 "2010-02-21T21:07:11Z")
Check out a book titled, The Fungus Link, by Doug A Kaufmann. He claims the diet even cures depression. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wacky-yeast-fighting-diet-help-me-with-sources-and-research/529790/3 "2010-02-21T21:13:53Z")
There is a LOT of wrong, confusing, and unscientific “information” out there about systemic candidiasis, and a lot of disagreement even among doctors. My own doctor will order me a blood test every year for it (always comes back negative) yet a doctor I worked for will insist that only people with severely compromised immune systems will have this problem. My personal doctor is fairly woowoo (integrative medicine) while the second doctor I mentioned was not woowoo at all. I would like a definitive answer to this as well. I do know that a diet high in carbohydrates will lead to more vaginal yeast infections- I do know that much about it. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wacky-yeast-fighting-diet-help-me-with-sources-and-research/529790/4 "2010-02-21T22:41:34Z")
[Quackwatch](http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candida.html) has some good information about this subject.