Have you battled with your weight for years, unable to lose any no matter how strictly you diet? Many readers may not have considered a common cause - yeast- and sugar-loving bacteria in the gut called candida.
These unwelcome hitch-hikers cause many symptoms including craving for sweet or yeasty foods, bloating, weight gain and fluid retention. They also cause sensitivities to certain foods which are often mis-diagnosed as irritable bowel problems. All these symptoms can be due to an overgrowth of candida yeast, sometimes called gut thrush, in the bowel.
The gut is home to many bacteria, friendly ones along with the hostile candida. The former are numerous but feeble, the candida are stronger but fewer in number - that is, until a suitable opportunity occurs. This, in pill-happy Hong Kong, is often a course of antibiotics. These powerful drugs indiscriminately knock out all gut bacteria, good and bad. This allows the opportunistic candida to get the upper hand.
The rise in antibiotics and contraceptive pill use are not the only culprits. Candida live and thrive on sugar and yeast so modern living with processed food, which often contains yeast and malt, together with yeasty beer, wine and sugary foods are also to blame.
Candida yeast feeds on simple carbohydrates in the bowel, such as sugar, bread, cakes, biscuits and fermented foods such as cheese, alcohol and vinegar. It loves Vegemite and Marmite, and mushrooms, being fungi, and yeasty fruit such as melon.
So why doesn't everyone suffer? A healthy immune system keeps gut bacteria under control, but one weakened by antibiotics, junk food, stress or chronic ailments can be affected to the extent candida interferes with body chemistry. Candida are greedy little bugs and cry out for sugary food, which causes the weight gain. They can mess up hormone levels, also leading to weight gain. A genetic inability to cope with wheat and grains, apart from rice, often means sufferers can't lose weight until the problem is cleared.
Weight loss for candida sufferers can be dramatic when they avoid grains, yeast, cheese and sugar. Fluid retention disappears and bloated tummies subside.