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But in the case of something like Candida overgrowth, it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere, right? We have to look at what could have contributed to this fungal overgrowth taking place in this gut ecosystem. And then of course, how is this candida overgrowth impacting something like our gut barrier? You know, intestinal permeability, nutrient absorption, that kind of thing. Because we really have to take all of this into consideration. Candida doesn’t just occur on its own.

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Welcome to the Nutrient Dense Podcast. I’m your host, Hannah Illward, holistic health coach, functional gut health practitioner, and the founder of Han. So many people are continuously failed by conventional and alternative health care. We are here to do it differently. Alongside my team of functional registered dietitians, I’ve helped hundreds of women around the world overcome their chronic digestive issues when nothing else worked.

I’ve learned a thing or two about what it really takes to transform your health from the inside out, and I’m here to share it all with you. Please keep in mind that this podcast is for educational purposes only and should never be used as medical advice. Now, let’s dive in. Your transformation is waiting.

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Hello, hello, my dears, and welcome back to another episode of the Nutrient Dense Podcast. In today’s episode, we’re going to be diving into all things candida overgrowth. So we’re going to be talking about, you know, what the heck candida even is, where it normally lives, some things that can contribute to a fungal overgrowth in the gut or factors that can increase the risk of it, some signs that you may have a candida overgrowth or fungal overgrowth issue, some testing options, things that we use with clients.

We’ve got some research that we’re gonna be diving into as well. And then of course discussing kind of what taking a natural approach to overcoming candida actually looks like and what you can expect with that. So today’s conversation is all about Candida overgrowth and what the heck that is and what you can do about it. So let’s just start and we’ll just kind of dive right on into the content in today’s episode. So what even is Candida, right?

Candida is a yeast. It’s a type of fungus. So you may hear me say on this podcast episode or on previous podcast episodes, like I’ll say fungal overgrowth, candida, yeast overgrowth. They’re all kind of interchangeable, right? So there are absolutely yeasts and fungi that are not necessarily candida albicans. There are other kinds, but for the purposes of this, candida, yeast, fungi are all somewhat interchangeable, I would say. And your gut microbiome naturally includes

Trillions of different microorganisms, right? So it includes different bacteria, fungi, viruses, archaea, parasites, and other organisms. And that fungal community is called the mycobiome. And candida’s job is to really aid with digestion and nutrient absorption. Yeast is a part of your body’s normal microflora. So I really want to make that clear in today’s episode. Some having some candida in the gut is not necessarily considered bad, right? Smaller levels are considered commensal, it’s naturally occurring.

Similar to something like Helicobacter pylori or just your bacteria. You can kind of think of it as in a similar way as SIBO. So SIBO is when we get that overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, but sometimes it’s not even those more dysbiotic harmful bacteria. It can be an overabundance of your good gut bacteria just in the wrong place. It’s not that like all bacteria are bad. We need many of these bacteria. They play wonderful roles for our overall health and our gut health. And similar to

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Candida, right? So it’s naturally occurring in smaller amounts. It’s not always a bad thing, but we can run into issues when we get that overgrowth. So it’s part of the body’s natural microflora. And these microorganisms live in a delicate balance in your mouth, in your throat, in your gut, in your vagina, and on your skin. So we have these microbiomes everywhere. We have our own skin microbiome, we have our vaginal microbiome, our oral microbiome.

Our nasal microbiome and of course the gut microbiome. So these microorganisms hang out in all different places, which is also why we can see different things pop up in different places. Like we may see postnasal drip or sinus congestion. We may see yeast infections, that kind of thing, because we can have these microbial imbalances in all of these different microbiomes. So ideally, your good gut bacteria and your bad gut bacteria and candida, among other forms of yeast and archaea and things like that.

Make up your gut microbiome in this more balanced state. And your gut is really an ecosystem, right? So we have to look at it as such. And you’ve, if you listen to the podcast, you’ve definitely heard me say that before. I think that when functional stool testing got more popular and when gut health just got more popular, it became this kind of like tunnel vision of okay, it’s this one infection, it’s this one bacterial overgrowth, it’s this one thing. When really the gut is an ecosystem. So

I was actually having a coaching session in my HGSB program with my clients today, and I was really emphasizing this idea that it’s all connected and your gut is an ecosystem. So when there’s never just one underlying root cause. There are always multiple occurring at once, and identifying every single individual root cause can be very tricky. We want to kind of look for patterns and suggestions of things and imbalances that are found.

And things like that. But my point in really harping on this is that, you know, when one thing goes in the gut, it’s going to impact the rest of your gut. So in the case of Candida overgrowth, which we’ll get into, I’m I’m jumping ahead a little bit here. But in the case of something like Candida overgrowth, it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere, right? We have to look at what could have contributed to this fungal overgrowth taking place in this gut ecosystem.

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And then of course, how is this candida overgrowth impacting something like our gut barrier, you know, intestinal permeability, nutrient absorption, that kind of thing? Because we really have to take all of this into consideration. Candida doesn’t just occur on its own, nor does SIBO or that small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It doesn’t just occur out of nowhere on its own. So if we really want to take a deeper, more functional, holistic root cause approach, we have to dig deeper. We have to look at gut function.

digestive health as a whole. So it’s never gonna be just Candida or it’s never gonna be just H. pylori. Those two definitely like to hang out together. I will say that. And it’s never gonna be, you know, just mold exposure because then that’s gonna impact your gut and your digestive health. So and potentially your thyroid and you know, yada yada. So all of these things, like we want to support your body’s underlying physiology and these systems, typically simultaneously, and look to support them all so the body can repair on its own. So

I just wanted to yeah, spend a little time t talking about that. I go on my little tangents, my little soapbox moments, but I just think in this like era right now of 30 second social media clips and things where it’s like, it’s just this one thing. It’s just your ferritin, it’s just mold, it’s just this, it’s just that. It’s like it’s just SIBO, it’s just candida. There’s just more to it. And we have to really consider our digestive health and our gut health as a whole. And and that is

Could also be why maybe you haven’t felt better quite yet if we haven’t been addressing these things from like multiple angles. So that’s my little spiel on that. We just want to look at the gut as an ecosystem overall. And this will also make sense when we understand what can even contribute to candida, which I’m gonna get into here soon. So we can have this overabundance or overgrowth of candida in many different places, right? So we can have.

This vaginal candidiasis, which can look like a yeast infection. We can have oral candidiasis or oral thrush, where you kind of get that like irritation, a white coating on the tongue. We can get skin candidiasis or an infection actually affecting the skin. We can also have CIFO, which is when we have an abundance of excess fungi or yeast in the small intestine. So, you know, we have SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. If you want to learn more about that, I have a couple of podcast episodes on that that are super

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super hefty and really go into major detail there, which we’ll link in the show notes below for you. So if you want to deep dive on SIBO, we’ve got that available for you. But similarly, we can also have a fungal overgrowth in the small intestine that has been associated with major digestive symptoms, right? So bloating, gas, etc. So we can have this fungal overgrowth taking place in a couple different areas of the body. And then of course we can have a more like invasive cantidiasis

Which is a serious issue. So a serious bloodstream or internal organ infection that’s generally associated with substantial medical risk factors. I would say that is gonna be what your typical Western medicine doctor would talk about in regards to candidiasis. This more so serious systemic infection. That’s not necessarily what we’re talking about here, right? So you can have a fungal overgrowth in the gut, but it’s not like you’re in the hospital. So these are different things, which is also why sometimes when you go

to your Western medical doctor, they may kind of roll their eyes at candida overgrowth in the gut or say we don’t have enough research on it or, you know, be like, no, you definitely don’t have it. You would be way more sick if you had it. So just things to consider here, we can have this fungal overgrowth in different places on the skin, vaginal microbiome, oral microbiome, gut microbiome, and then more of that invasive candidiasis. And a vaginal yeast infection or a stool test that’s showing candida overgrowth or a suspected small intestinal fungal overgrowth are all, you know,

somewhat different situations here, but sometimes they are connected, right? So we will see sometimes a fungal overgrowth in the gut in those that have more of that kind of recurring yeast infection pattern. We do there is also some research to show that bacterial imbalances in the gut can contribute to things like interstitial sicitis. I’ll say I’ll say that again, Kirsten, can contribute to things like interstitial sicitis.

or bacterial vaginosis or even UTIs as well. So, you know, the gut microbiome can impact the vaginal microbiome just like the oral microbiome can impact the gut microbiome. Okay, so what are some of these like common signs of something like a candida or a fungal overgrowth? So when we’re looking at the gut microbiome piece, whether it be in the small intestine or the large intestine, some of the research that we have on small intestinal fungal overgrowth

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Digestive symptoms reported with this are going to include things like bloating and gas, belching, burping, indigestion, nausea, and something like diarrhea. That’s what a lot of the research shows when it comes to CIFO or that small intestinal fungal overgrowth. I would say what we see in clients that have fungal overgrowth in a stool panel, or that’s really suggesting that we have that overabundance in the large intestine.

Which could mean we also have it in the small intestine. I would personally say that’s likely if we’re seeing it on a stool panel, but we’d need to do further testing to absolutely confirm that. But I would say, you know, that’s kind of the pattern that we’re seeing with clients. And what we will see in people with elevated levels of candida on a stool sample will be, you know, food sensitivities or reactions. I would say often th to like random different foods. Sometimes we have more of a sensitivity to

Foods naturally rich in sugar or like carbohydrate-rich foods. So people can be sensitive to things like grains and oats. I will also see people be sensitive to like different fruits where those really flare them, which is interesting. And then of course they can also be sensitive to fermented foods, something like kombucha or kimchi or even wine. That’s a common pattern that I will see in clients as well. So when we have a major reaction, like say you have a glass of red wine and you have a major reaction, your your gut and digestive tract are

you know, recovering for like three days afterwards. I would say I see that pattern decently commonly in clients that have a fungal overgrowth in the gut. So just something to keep in mind there. Of course, that can also signify like a histamine issue. So we have to investigate this a little bit. Another thing that we will see is constipation, skin rashes, and acne I would say is pretty prevalent. So when we have different skin rashes and presentation, irritation of the skin barrier,

When we have consistent acne, these things that like don’t respond to topical interventions. Yes, we can have that fungal overgrowth on the skin itself. So that’s also possible. But this internal fungal overgrowth in the gut, we do see correlated with the skin presentation as well. And Dr. Julie Greenberg actually did a bit of research on this. She she took like a patient population of hers that was coming that was coming in to see her for acne and skin rashes.

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And when she ran stool samples, she picked up on these patterns. Like most of the people that have acne have this. And it was much higher than those without acne, as an example. So that doesn’t necessarily prove causation, right? But we do have some data there. I thought this test or this kind of, you know, data that she gathered in her own patients was pretty telling because she was looking at people coming in with skin issues, and then she was seeing that.

When we compare the stool tests of just stool tests of random people versus stool tests of those with skin issues, we were seeing that those with acne and something like eczema did have higher levels of certain things, one of them being Candida. H. pylori was often present in these cases, as was or as were protozoa. So like parasites and things like that. So just something to consider. I would say we see it.

pretty regularly as well. It doesn’t mean that everyone that has candida overgrowth will have a skin issue. It can present differently, but we do see this big correlation with the skin presentation and the internal fungal overgrowth in the gut, both with skin rashes and acne. Another thing that we’ll commonly see is fatigue. We can see brain fog as well. And then, you know, sometimes some mood stuff can come up there too. So often noted is like sugar cravings. Yeah, I would say we could see that. I don’t know if we have tons of data on that, to be honest, but

Candida, yes, sugar does feed candida, which we’ll talk about. So that would make sense. And we do, we do see some people with sugar cravings that have this, but I don’t know if I would really add that to the list. I would say most commonly we’re saying bloating, gas, belching, indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, and or constipation, food reactions to many different foods, and then the skin presentation. And then sometimes the the histamine issue can come into play there and the brain fogs. So those are some things that we are looking at.

Overall, that can suggest that there is a fungal overgrowth present in the gut. Of course, it doesn’t always mean that there is. We have to dig a bit deeper. So, you know, if you’ve listened to other episodes of my podcast, a lot of these things can overlap, right? So chronic bloating can be caused by a myriad of different things. It could be sluggish gut transit time or slow gut motility. It could be SIBO or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It could be fungal overgrowth. It could be low stomach acid. It could be subpart bioflow, right? So

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The testing and investigation is really important here because we can have the the same presentation can have various underlying root causes and vary per person. And that’s why it requires a lot of investigation and a lot of work to kind of dig in and see what’s going on and see what is contributing to these things in your unique case. We use testing and questionnaires and, you know, reviews of your presentation and that kind of thing.

Alongside of a functional testing, of course, to understand like what is actually going on in your case. So just keeping that in mind. Not everyone with bloating and gas has fungal overgrowth, of course, but those with fungal overgrowth do. We can see this correlated with bloating and gas and belching and all of that. So just something to consider. And those would kind of warrant some further investigation, in my opinion, there. There is also some interesting research kind of beyond digestion.

When it comes to fungal overgrowth, too. So there was some early human research with ADHD, and a 2023 study compared 35 children with ADHD to 35 control children. And researchers found a higher candida abundance, particularly candida albicins, which is like that most most common candida in that ADHD group. So that does not mean that candida causes ADHD, right? But what we can see is when we’re looking at

A population of children, and we have 35 with diagnosed with ADHD and 35 without. Those with ADHD did have higher levels of candida. So I would love to see some further research on this. You know, I think this gives researchers a further reason to investigate the fungal microbiome further and then also just look at the correlation with ADHD and the underlying mechanisms as to why that could be happening, right? It doesn’t always mean that ADHD is due to, you know, a fungal overgrowth.

Or that children with ADHD always need fungal intervention. But I’m like, that’s some interesting research. Let’s dig deeper into that and see what’s going on there, especially as it feels like ADHD and rates of ADHD are kind of exploding. So just kind of an interesting thing to consider. We also will see this connection with anxiety. So a study in adolescent female mice found that intestinal candida colonization affected anxiety-related behavior and endocannabinoid signaling, which is involved in.

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These stress responses. So I would say this provides a mechanism for further investigation as well. Of course, this was in female mice, so it wasn’t in humans. We always want to take that into consideration. But when we can see that, it’s like, okay, maybe it’s worth digging deeper and doing some additional research here. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to do additional research and you need a lot of funding and you it takes a lot of work. So we lack some research and some things that I would love to explore. But one day, maybe, maybe we will have it.

So something to consider, you know, because people, I would say people with gut issues overall can can report that they have increased anxiety. I think there’s many reasons for that. Of course, the gut microbiome composition could play a role, nutrient absorption, a poor gut barrier. We can have lipopolysaccharide producing bacteria, these endotoxins crossing the blood-brain barrier that can contribute to brain inflammation.

So there’s a there are many reasons why, you know, the gut could be playing a role in the expression of anxiety. I also do have a whole podcast episode on that too, where I go deeper into that and the research that we have. So if you feel free to listen to that, I’ll have my team pop that in the show notes below as well. But just things to consider and how the gut microbiome and how these specific microbial imbalances could be contributing to our mental health overall. And then of course you just have the the concept of like and the reality of

The fact that dealing with chronic digestive issues makes anyone anxious because you’re constantly worried about what you’re eating and if it’s gonna set you off and how sick you’re gonna feel and all of that. So that would be more like nervous system regulated. And then we do have some research showing that like overgrowth of certain bacteria can increase, you know, cortisol production or epinephrine and epinephrine production, things like that, or is correlated with. I don’t know if we have the data to show that it directly causes it. So I don’t want to misspeak here, but go you can go listen to that other episode.

that I have, we’ll link that in the show notes below if you want to dig deeper into the like the anxiety and gut health connection. Okay, so getting into underlying root cause drivers and risk factors for something like Candida overgrowth. So how did we get here, right? So if you’re resonating with a lot of the signs of Candida overgrowth, if you have been tested and it shows that you have it, if you think that you have it, what how did you get there? And what else can we kind of investigate here? Antibiotics are are a big

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underlying root cause of candidiasis. So antibiotics come in, they can disrupt your bacteria that help constrain that fungal overgrowth from taking place. So antibiotics come in, they wipe out all of your bacteria, the good and the bad, right? Which can be super helpful when you need them. And also it can increase your risk for candida overgrowth to take place. If you read the risk, you know, the pamphlet that comes with the antibiotic that you have to take, whether that’s like for a UTI or a sinus infection or whatever.

It will say it will increase your risk for candidysis. So we know this, right? This is we know this like it makes sense conceptually, but that we have enough research on this to know that chronic antibiotic use can increase your risk for candida overgrowth. So if you feel like you took an antibiotic for something, sinus infection, UTI, whatever, bad injury, whatever it might be, a surgery, and you notice that your gut really shifted after that, we have enough data to know that that.

That makes that basically makes sense and we should do some deeper digging. We you could have a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth present. We could have dysbiosis in large intestine. And then that fungal overgrowth is kind of something I’m always looking at when someone has had a lot of antibiotics, taking a lot of antibiotics, or noticed a big change after taking a round of antibiotics. Just something to consider there. So we kind of want to review like timeline and see when things started to really shift, shift for you.

But current and recent use is a recognized candidiasis risk factor. And you know, I think even if you went to like urgent care, they they would tell you that. Hopefully. Hopefully they would tell you that. Maybe they wouldn’t. Okay, then we have things like corticosteroids. So systemic corticosteroids can affect immune defenses. And things like inhaled corticosteroids particularly increase oral thrush risk. So we have that fungal overgrowth in the oral microbiome. Then other underlying root cause drivers could be blood sugar dysregulation and immune function. So

Very poorly controlled diabetes and immune suppression can increase your susceptibility there too. So anytime immunity is down, fungal overgrowth can kind of rise and take place. Then we also have hormonal birth control. So this is a recognized risk factor for vaginal candidiasis: this oral contraceptive hormonal birth control piece. There was some research that came out, I want to say it was last year, that really showed us that the oral contraceptive does directly impact.

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The gut microbiome, we already knew that. So there’s always like an interesting line to ride here when talking about this stuff because you know, sometimes the research comes out later. We always look at the research that we have and follow that research as best as as we can, right? But there’s sometimes the research takes a second to catch up. So just something to keep in mind. Like when when that study came out, I was kind of like, hello, duh, we’ve been seeing this for years, you know. But I’m glad that we finally had more clear research there.

So hormonal birth control can contribute to that. I would say this is something that we have been seeing in clients for years, and now we know it can disrupt the gut microbiome, both bacterial composition and the fungal composition of the gut, too. Then we have certain biologic medications. So the risk of s of each one really depends on the drug and the immune pathway, but certain biologic medications can increase your risk for candida infections or overgrowth. Then we also have heavy or chronic alcohol consumption.

So studies in alcohol use disorder and alcohol-associated liver disease have found intestinal fungal changes and increased candida, which makes total sense. Like the alcohol is not really gonna do anything good for our gut. This doesn’t mean that your occasional drink here or there will cause candida overgrowth or SIBO. I do believe that there’s some research on the SIBO and alcohol use connection too.

Not surprised at all by that. We know that alcohol just damages the gut microbiome, the gut barrier. Of course, I mean it’s a carcinogen. It’s not good for us at all. So if you have history of heavy alcohol use, that could be an underlying contributor to that chronic fungal overgrowth in the gut. Just a possibility. I did have a client years and years ago. Basically, she would like kind of party really hard when she was younger. She would party really hard.

We’ve all been there. I honestly I never really partied that hard. To be totally transparent, I feel like I never really had this time in my life where I just like super partied. But I know most other people did, and I do not judge you for that whatsoever. I’m like, should I have partied harder? I don’t know. Probably doesn’t sound good from a coming from me over here. But honestly, I never really, I’ve never really drank that much in my life. But anyway.

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Just kind of a funny note there. So she would, she was like when she was in her 20s, she would classically party really hard, drink a lot, and then she’d get sick a lot. So then she’d take antibiotics. And that was like a a common pattern that she had in her life for years because it was like party, probably stress with school, et cetera, and then antibiotic. And she said she would take that would happen. She’d take antibiotics like all the time, multiple times a year. That with the high alcohol use when we ran her soul test. This was years ago at this point, but I will never forget it because I have never seen.

Candy overgrowth so high. Someone’s stole a sample. It was crazy high. And we need significant time to bring those levels down. So just a note on the alcohol and antibiotic connection there. Then we also have motility and acid suppression. So dys motility in the gut and proton pump inhibitor use, like PPI use, have been associated with bacterial and or fungal overgrowth in selected patients per the research. This makes sense, right? So we have disruptions in gut motility, we have disruptions in stomach acid production.

Or neutralizing that stomach acid, which we know we need to break down our food efficiently, absorb the nutrients from our food efficiently. It also acts to like kill off invaders, things like parasitic infections or bacterial infections coming in to the gut through, you know, the food that we’re eating or stuff we’re stuff we’re eating and drinking, we’re putting our mouths on. So whenever we suppress that stomach acid production and we neutralize it, especially over time, something like PPI use.

You know, that will of course disrupt the gut microbiome. And PPI use has been linked to tons of stuff. I mean, it’ll increase your risk for like osteoporosis. I do believe there’s research to show that it increases your risk for SIBO. And there’s a couple other nutrients that it’s known to deplete too, which, you know, of course, of course. Like I don’t I think I think that makes a lot of sense because we need the stomach acid to break down our food and absorb the nutrients from our food. So when we’re using PPIs for a long period of time, I know some people

Are on them for like 10 years, you know? And that’s that’s not something we want people on for a really long period of time. Of course, that’s a conversation to have with your doctor. Explore other options. What can we do to support you here? Can we do some deeper root cause investigation? Work in conjunction with your doctor to help support your body there and potentially taper you off of the PPIs slowly, right? With the guidance of your doctor, all of that stuff. But that’s kind of the that’s the goal that I have for everyone on them. Something to consider because they will disrupt the gut.

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Microbiome composition. Then we also have stress and dietary patterns. So I spoke already to the high alcohol intake, high sugar diet, you know, candida and other yeast or fungi do feed on sugar. So diets high in refined carbohydrates and added sugars can provide the right fuel for this yeast overgrowth to take place. And then we have chronic stress, you know, elevated cortisol levels from chronic stress essentially suppress immune function and can also contribute to blood sugar.

imbalances and we also know how detrimental chronic stress is to our gut barrier. So all that’s kind of a vicious cycle to disrupt the gut microbiome and disrupt the gut barrier and can contribute to an overabundance of yeast or fungi in the gut. And then the other one that I want to shout out here and another underlying root cause would be mold exposure. So you know I would love to see more research on this.

I think we have a long way to go when it comes to the research behind mold, mold illness, how that can impact the gut, how it can impact your overall health. We do have some research on specific mycotoxins and how they impact the body. But you know, mold illness, which stems from exposure to mold spores and their toxic byproducts or those mycotoxins, kind of paves the way for candida to flourish. So candida and mold are both members of the fungal family, and they share similar properties and similar behaviors.

And when the body is overwhelmed with mold exposure, it can become more vulnerable to things like fungal overgrowth in the gut. It’s something that I, you know, personally, I would almost I would almost expect it. Like if you’ve had heavy mold exposure, if you’re living in a moldy home now, I would almost expect there to be a fungal overgrowth in the gut, in the small intestine or and or the large intestine, along with like gut barrier, hyperpermeability stuff, possi it can it can contribute to SIBO.

There’s a lot going on. So mold mold will definitely cause those recurring gut issues. So just something to consider. And these organisms can even form these things called biofilms, which are these protective coverings that make these communities and organisms harder to eliminate. So Candida tends to have a lot of biofilms and mold can as well. So mold exposure and high levels of these mycotoxins also, you know, they really tax the immune system and this can

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This can dampen your body’s ability to control these fungal organisms, and they can also shift the gut microbiome. The immune system’s kind of overwhelmed and that can lead to bigger issues. And we also know that mycotoxins, these toxic byproducts from mold spores, have a strong affinity for the tissues that make up the gut barrier, the gut lining. So I have a whole podcast episode on mold and gut health and histamine and how mold can cause chronic gut and digestive issues.

We will put that in the show notes below for you as well. If that’s resonating with you, I would highly recommend listening to that episode. And just keeping in mind that like the research that we have on mold and mycotoxins, it it’s often suggesting like asthma or mold allergy or that kind of thing. But my gosh, you guys, we see it cause major health issues. And I think I’m hopeful that in another, I mean it could take like 20 years. It could take like 20 to 30 years, but I’m hopeful that we’ll have a lot more research come out about that.

And there was some there was a new study done and new findings done that that showed like, you know, you don’t necessarily have to be like super sick and immunocompromised to maybe get sick from mold. So I think we’re inching in that right direction, but I think we have a long way, a long way to go. But I’m sorry, I’ve seen enough people be live in a moldy home, get super freaking sick, no one can explain their their issues, move out of the moldy home and start to feel so much better. So I’m a big believer here and w there is some

know we can dig into to further research with that as well and go check out that other episode that I have. So the next thing I wanted to talk about was the CIFO and SIBO. So you know SIBO is I’d say more widely known and accepted. However, there will be some some practitioners or providers, medical doctors that don’t really recognize SIBO, which I I find shocking. I had, I spoke to someone years ago and I remember her saying my doctor doesn’t believe in SIBO and he never tests for it.

He’s never seen a case in his in his 20 years and he never tests for it. I’m like, well, he’s never, he’s never seen it because he’s never testing for it. That makes sense. He’s never seen it. He’s never run a test for it. So, you know, we do what we can here in the functional health space, in the functional medicine space, these things are, you know, more widely accepted. So do with that what you will. But when it comes to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, I have, like I mentioned before, I’ve got other put episodes on that. I get that overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine.

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And then with CIFO, we get that small intestinal fungal overgrowth. So we can have an overabundance of fungi in the small intestine there. And research has identified fungal, bacterial, and mixed overgrowth in patients with unexplained digestive symptoms. So we do have some research on this. Patients come in, they have unexplained digestive issues, right? And research has identified that they have they can have both. So you can have both bacterial and fungal overgrowth in the small intestine. And what I what I like to consider in people is

If they have, you know, done SIBO breath testing with their doctor, maybe they’ve treated it, they’ve taken rifaxamin or neomycin or whatever, they’ve taken those and then maybe they retest and the levels actually are way down, but they’re not really feeling that much better, I would start thinking about a fungal issue there. I would also always run functional soul testing in conjunction with a breath test personally to see what else is going on in the gut microbiome. But if a lot of digestive issues or skin issues

Persist after you’ve you feel like you’ve taken care of that small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, I would, you know, consider investigating fungal overgrowth.

We are big fans of eating enough protein over here on Team Han. Protein is essential for muscle repair, a strong gut lining, balanced blood sugar levels, and so much more. For most of our clients, we like recommending around 100 grams of protein per day to start, and adding in a good quality protein powder can be super helpful for hitting those numbers. It’s an easy add-in, you can throw it into a smoothie or even add it to oatmeal. Choosing the right protein powder can feel so overwhelming.

Half of them are full of fillers and crap ingredients, and the other half honestly just taste bad. Equip protein is one of my go-to recommendations for our clients and one of my personal favorites. We love it because it only has a small handful of ingredients. It’s 100% carefully sourced, real foods, no additives, allergens, chemicals, fillers, or other junk. It’s gluten-free and it contains 21 grams of protein per serving. Equip’s Prime Protein also offers

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a complete amino acid profile. It’s also independently tested to make sure that the protein powder is free of harmful amounts of heavy metals and toxins like glyphosate, which is honestly super hard to find. Equip prime protein is a grass-fed beef protein. So it is animal-based, but it’s dairy free, unlike whey or casein protein powders. Grass-fed beef protein is packed with collagen, gelatin, and micronutrients that your body needs.

We also see that it’s typically much better tolerated in our clients with chronic gut and digestive issues over something like a plant-based protein powder. In addition, some of their flavors do contain natural flavors, but they’re distilled vapors from natural and organic compounds or fruits like vanilla, coconut, and strawberry, and are processed without any chemicals, fillers, binders, or artificial ingredients, which once again is incredibly hard to find. Personally, I buy both the chocolate and the vanilla.

Flavors of the Equip Prime Protein, but honestly, they have like so many other incredible flavors out now. If you’re interested in trying out Equip Prime Protein, you can use the code HANNAHAYLWARDHHC at checkout for 15% off. And we’ll pop that code in the show notes of this episode for you as well. So once again, you can go to equipfoods.com, choose the flavor of protein powder that you want, and then use code HANNAHAYLWARDHHC for 15% off.

I’m a big believer that the right supplements can be game changing when it comes to overcoming things like burnout, gut issues, slow thyroid function, low energy, acne, and so much more. But the supplement industry is honestly the wild, wild west. The FDA doesn’t approve supplements before they’re sold, so it’s really important to choose high quality brands whenever purchasing. Many brands aren’t third party tested. Some don’t actually contain what’s even listed on the label. Totally crazy, I know.

And quality can vary a lot from company to company. That’s exactly why we use FullScript with all of our clients. Through my online supplement dispensary with FullScript, you can get access to all of the professional grade third-party tested supplements that I trust and use with clients. FullScript vets brands before they’re introduced into the supplement catalog, and they hold them accountable to quality standards every year.

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Whether you’re looking for a high quality magnesium or probiotic or digestive enzymes, maybe vitamin D, anything in between, you can shop them all in one place with confidence on Full Script. This is personally where I purchase all of my supplements, and I’m not kidding when I say I have all of my friends and family purchase from there too. If you’re going to invest in supplements, you wanna actually get what you think you’re getting and not just a bunch of fillers or random ingredients.

As a listener of the Nutrient Dense podcast, you’ll also receive 15% off of your orders and you’ll get free shipping on orders over $50. You can get exclusive access through my personal FullScript store at us.fullscript.com/welcome/han. Through this link, you can also access my favorite product catalogs like supplements for nervous system support and my current favorites for gut and digestive health.

Once again, you can go to us.fullscript.com/welcome/han, or find that link in the show notes below and get access to practitioner grade third party tested supplements for fifteen percent off.

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And then we have testing, right? So how do we actually know that we are dealing with a fungal overgrowth in the gut? We run functional stool testing with our clients. It will pick up candida overgrowth and other fungi or yeast overgrowth in the gut. We definitely see that on some lab results for sure. So we can’t detect candida on a stool sample. I will also say that a lot of candida.

tends to hang out in the small intestine and even in the stomach. So I know I’ve said this on previous episodes before. Even if we’re not seeing it on a stool panel, I wouldn’t say it means that it’s not present. The testing that we have for fungal overgrowth is a little, a little shoddy. I would, you know, I think we’ll make developments here in the upcoming years too. But what we use is we use stool sampling. And then sometimes you can also run an organic acids test. That can be helpful for identifying some fungal overgrowth as well.

We don’t always run that with our clients because it’s another, you know, like $300 test for people. So we don’t always run it. I like to look at presentation, history, stool test results, and then, you SIBO breath test if someone already has that. But an organic acids test can also be helpful here for potentially identifying some fungal overgrowth that’s taking place. It can also show you some give you some insight for bacterial overgrowth as well. And that’s a urine sample. And we’ll we’ll order those for some of our clients at times. But that stool testing is kind of

gonna be like what we use primarily there. It can detect Candida. Some I would say it’s it’s missed a lot on stool samples with just what I’ve learned and what my whole team has learned just over the years. Honestly, this is not what we were taught in the many, many trainings that we’ve taken. It was kind of something that we learned over years of working with clients and going,

You know, this test results not super matching their their presentation. They they’re presenting with a lot of these signs of fungal issues, but we’re not seeing the fungal overgrowth on the test results. So, you know, if the client is on board, let’s ex let’s do some work here, let’s do some antifungal work, and then they feel a lot better. We’ve seen that happen many, many times. So just something to consider there. If you’ve had a functional stool panel run and you’ve gotten those results back and you don’t have any candida or you don’t have any fungal overgrowth.

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So the person you’re working with never really thinks about it. I would say in our case, we are considering it and we offer our clients like additional questionnaires and stuff to dig a bit deeper into this because it can be missed, especially if that overgrowth is in the small intestine. And with that being said, a positive result on a soul test does not always mean that everyone will be kind of symptomatic in that case as well. It doesn’t prove that the immune system is overwhelmed. So there is nuance to all of this.

Which is why, you know, you’ve gotta I would recommend working with someone that kind of knows the ins and outs of it. But and stool testing cannot necessarily confirm small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or excuse me, small intestinal fungal overgrowth. That would be an additional test, right? So there is small intestinal sampling that can be done. And CIFO studies have used fungal cultures from fluid collected during upper endoscopies. But this is very invasive and has sampling inter interpretation limitations.

But this is kind of the best. This is like the best, most accurate test that we have for CIFO as of right now. It’s this fungal culture that’s taken from fluid collected during an upper endoscopy. But of course, it has its limitations. It’s super invasive. So we like to look at stool samples, you know, presentation history. you mentioned you feel way worse after antibiotics. you mentioned you’ve got the skin stuff, you’ve got, you know, recurring yeast infections, you’ve got.

all of this other stuff you feel worse after these fermented foods. Okay, maybe we can bring in some antifungal work for for you there. So I just like to present you, present you with everything that we have, all of the the most of the research that we have on all of this. And we definitely see it on stole panels. So we will see it identified on stole panels a a good bit. But even if we don’t, I’m I’m doing a little bit of deeper investigation there more often than not. It’s also important to keep in mind that if you have gone for a SIBO breath test, that will not rule out

or diagnose, you know, Candida overgrowth or CIFO. So it’s checking for bacteria. It’s not checking for fungal overgrowth. So just something to consider. If you’ve gone for the SIBO breath test and it that’s come back negative, doesn’t rule out CIFO. And if if it’s come back positive, it doesn’t rule out CIFO either. You can totally have small intestinal fungal overgrowth and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth present at the same time. So those are our the best testing options that we have. I think a good stool panel, a functional stool panel, potentially an organic acids test.

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Some questionnaires, some digging into your history, considering what comes up there. And then, of course, if you can and you’re down for it, then you can get that more invasive, that more invasive sampling of that that’s collected during an upper endoscopy. Some new emerging research that actually just recently came out, I wanted to kind of touch on in today’s episode too, because it links antifungal therapy in IBD cases. It’s a 2026.

prospective observational study and it followed 53 patients with mild to moderate Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis and mild oral thrush. And 35 of these patients received fluconazole, which is an antifungal medication. And 18 received swish and spit nystatin, which is, you know, an antifungal as well. And researchers assessed microbial and clinical changes over the course of eight weeks. And the findings that were associated with the fluconazole, the antifungal medication,

It led to reduced intestinal candida, changes in fungal composition, increased beneficial bacteria diversity, which is really interesting. It also contributed to the expansion or what was associated with this was the expansion of certain short chain fatty acid producing bacteria, changes in microbial metabolites, and improvements in disease activity occurring alongside these microbial changes. So that’s really interesting, right? We’re seeing that the this that

really impacting the fungal composition of the gut through antifungals can also impact the bacterial composition in a positive way. And this is going back to the the theory of like the gut is an ecosystem, right? And all of these things are connected and they’re influencing one another. So this really supports studying this fungal and bacterial interaction, the interaction between the two and targeted therapy in selected patients. And it’s a small observational study by design, right? So it it cannot

give us that strong causation, but it does once again let us know that if you have IBD, maybe we want to consider that fungal overgrowth could be playing a role. What would it look like if we worked on potentially, you know, bringing down fungal overgrowth and bringing in some antifungal support and seeing if that helped, seeing if that supported you. So I think, you know, we see a lot of dysbiosis in those that have been diagnosed with IBD. So once again, this is not surprising to me, but I think it definitely

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It’s a it’s a good place and it warrants further research to see. You know, I don’t think I don’t think fungal overgrowth causes all IBD. And that’s not what this study really shows us either. But could it be contributing to worsening IBD? Do those with IBD have higher levels of fungal overgrowth? Like what can we look at there so we can get more people feeling better, kind of from that more root cause lens overall? So the research really highlights, you know, that this is an an interconnected ecosystem and

What’s cool is like changing that fungal composition was accompanied by changes in the bacteria and microbial metabolites. So it’s like the fungal, bringing those fungal levels down, supported those those good bacteria and the diversity of them and then those short chain fatty acid, the short chain fatty acid production as well. So pretty cool. You know, definitely would love to see some more research there in regards to this connection between the fungal overgrowth and the irrital bowel disease, something like, you know, Crohn’s or colitis.

And I just wanted to shout out this iron piece for you guys too. So there is a connection between candida and iron with both low iron and high iron or iron overload. So when we have low iron or iron deficiency, a low iron state or iron deficiency anemia is often associated with a higher prevalence of mucosal candidiasis, such as oral thrush or those recurrent yeast infections. So when we have iron deficiency or low iron.

We see a higher prevalence of this candidiasis. And this happens because iron impairs the host’s immune system, the cell-made mediated immunity and mucous membrane defenses. And at the same time, when we have high iron or iron overload, excess iron, right, unmonitored iron supplementation can actually promote the growth of certain pathogens and increase fungal burdens and make candida more invasive. So, you know, when we see someone with candida on a stool panel,

We like to take into consideration running a full iron panel on them and seeing how their iron is looking. Are they looking at, you know, having an they’re they’re overburdened with iron? Their iron is all their levels are really high, or are they looking at not having enough iron? Iron stores are really low. Maybe they’ve been diagnosed with anemia. And could that be impacting their immune system and their ability to like fight off this fungal overgrowth? So iron does play a role a role here, right? And we do know that.

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It can feed and promote the growth of certain pathogens, which is also why on on my team, we don’t love excessive iron supplementation for long periods of time because especially in those with gut issues, it’s known to cause, you know, things like constipation, but it can also feed certain pathogens and increase that fungal burden. So it’s not something that I like people to do for a really long time. Of course, there is a balance here. When people are really, really low, increasing their iron can be so supportive and like game changing.

And help them, you know, when your iron’s really low, you’ll just feel terrible. Like you can have increased anxiety, fatigue, headaches. I mean, your periods can be really bad, exercise intolerance, like it’s not fun. It’ll tank your thyroid, right? So it’s it’s not something to to overlook. We it can cause a lot of issues, hair loss, you know, all sorts of things. But if we can, you know, I want to look more so at the iron recycling system, iron absorption in the gut, and supporting proper iron absorption as opposed to simply just like.

supplementing with more and more and more and more iron. And if you want to learn more about iron and why your iron levels are still low despite like supplementation, eating iron-rich foods and all of that, I have a whole podcast episode on that too. So you can check that one out and we will link that in the show notes for you as well. But since iron is just like making its round on on social media right now and so many women are so chronically low iron or are chronically low ferritin. Maybe they don’t have full blown, you know, anemia yet, but the ferritin’s been really low for a long time.

It’s I just thought it was worth kind of talking about because there is this connection to fungal overgrowth in the gut here. High iron, once again, or the iron overload can increase this fungal burden in the gut. And then also if you’re really low, it can impact your immune system. So you can’t like fight off this fungal overgrowth in the gut. So just something, something to consider if you’ve had maybe you’ve had candida, you’ve had it for a long time. We and we want to ask why.

What’s going on there? What underlying root cause drivers could be contributing to that consistent candida overgrowth in the gut? And then of course, what do we do about all of this? So we talked about some testing, we talked about some signs, we talked about some underlying root causes, some cool research that we have, some emerging research. And now what do we do? So when we work with someone that has a fungal overgrowth, of course, it it’s similar to anything else. We want to consider nutrition.

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Stress, lifestyle strategies, movement, sleep, circadian rhythm, detoxification, environmental toxin exposure. And then of course, you know, rebalancing the that gut microbiome piece too. So nutrition and nourishment comes first and foremost. We want to work on blood sugar regulation, regular meals, not skipping meals, anything that’s gonna like support your immune system and making sure your body has adequate stores to

eradicate an overgrowth if it needs to. Whereas when we get into these states of like chronic fasting or undernourishment or over exercising and not enough repletion, we’ll just run into problems here. So you really focusing on blood sugar regulation, you know, fiber, protein, fat at every single meal. And then the big question is what foods do we take out? If you Google it, you’ll see very quickly like anti-candida diet, low sugar diet, no grains, no sugar, no fruit, no this, no that, no alcohol.

And there’s varying research on this. So that we do have a little bit of research in a 2018 pilot study. It reported that the better outcomes among patients, there were better outcomes among patients who followed certain dietary modifications alongside and after nystatin treatment. So so a prescription antifungal treatment. However, there is nuance to this. This is the point I really want to drive home because we don’t really use anti-candidated diets with our clients, of course.

Everyone’s gonna benefit from pulling out too much excess sugar. Like pulling out the alcohol, pulling out processed sugar, baked goods, you know, candy, all that stuff. That’s gonna benefit everyone. That’s that’s totally fine. But I don’t want people feeling afraid to eat blueberries. I don’t want people to feel afraid to eat an apple or, you know, a a tiny bit of honey in their tea or their coffee or something. I just think it causes more harm than it does good. We have seen a couple cases where people have improved with.

With a fungal overgrowth, like with what they’re kind of dealing with on the day-to-day by following a lower sugar diet. But I would still be really mindful of taking out like all carbohydrates. I think that’s way too much and your body needs carbs for fuel. It’s just it could work temporarily. But once again, there is nuance to this because Candida can use sugar as its fuel, right? But sugar is not its only fuel. So the Candida has

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The metabolic flexibility to use amino acids and certain fat-derived compounds as fuel as well. So that’s one of the reasons why the idea of like simply starving Candida doesn’t make sense and it usually doesn’t work, right? So starving it by eliminating all carbohydrates is just an oversimplification, in my opinion. And it’s also definitely don’t go restricting like protein and fat as well. You’d literally be left with nothing, nothing to eat.

I don’t think it makes a big enough difference in client cases to have people freaking out and scared to eat a sweet potato when we’re looking at a fungal overgrowth. I just don’t see it. I think it I see it causing more harm than good. And typically those with chronic GI issues are already afraid to eat a bunch of foods. I do not want to add any food fear into that situation. And I think when you’re looking at, you know, whole foods like potatoes and sweet potatoes and squashes and apples and blueberries and whatever and raspberries, like,

Sure, they may have some sugar and carbs, but they have fiber, they have polyphenols, they have antioxidants. They are the body needs carbs as fuel, right? So I really don’t recommend following a super strict anti-candida diet. With that being said, of course, alcohol, throw it away, you know, high sugar in the diet, lots of added sugar. It’s not gonna do anyone any good. But like whole food-based sugars, I wouldn’t worry about too much. With that being said, as well, I know there’s there’s some trains of thoughts where people are like eating 10 bananas a day.

I would say that’s a little overkill personally, but you know, putting half a banana in your smoothie, I would not sweat it. Eating a sweet potato with your ground beef or whatever and your veggies at dinner, I really wouldn’t worry about it. I think it’s gonna that’s going to give you more of the right fuel that you need versus causing more harm or like feeding, quote unquote feeding the candida. It’s kind of similar to SIBO in the way that sure, following a low f low FODMAP diet can give you some relief temporarily, but it doesn’t necessarily like starve the bacteria.

Right. So the the only diet that’s been shown to like actually starve the bacteria with SIBO is the elemental diet, where you’re really not eating anything. You’re just drinking the solution to to like stay alive. And it’s it’s pretty rough, you know. I I would say more severe cases, it could be helpful, but definitely wouldn’t recommend that to everyone either. So the low FODMAP diet, it’s a similar thing. It’s like feeding these bacteria with the fermentable carbohydrates. It’s not necessarily making it worse, in my opinion. And

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removing them can if it helps you feel better temporarily, that’s great. But we also have to address and identify those underlying root causes. So similar, similar here to candida, right? So I would say overall in the intensive like dietary restriction, anti-candida diet, like know this, know that, know this, no that, is not recommended by me, if you want my opinion and what we do with clients. Cause we can still improve your food quality, your diversity of plant fibers, increasing antioxidants, polyphenol rich foods, blood sugar balance, all of that.

without like needing to starve these candida and add in a ton of restriction. So we can still improve food quality and nutrition overall without having to take this this heavy restriction. So that’s my take on kind of the dietary piece of all of this. With lifestyle support, of course, we want to check stress. We want to check sleep. We want to check exercise, right? Looking at our stress levels, looking at how often we feel overwhelmed. If you are smoking, do you abuse alcohol and you drink a lot of alcohol, like these are things that I would say should definitely go

We want to take a look at constipation, other digestive concerns that are present for you too. How can we get the bowels moving? How can we support gut motility? That kind of thing. Really focusing on stress and sleep and circadian rhythm and movement, daily movement, and but but keeping it not too over the top. So I wouldn’t like train for a what are the things that everyone’s doing right now with a high rocks? Is it high hydrox or high rocks? I’m definitely not doing it, clearly, because I don’t what it’s college.

I think it’s awesome. I think people are like super strong and all that’s great. But if you’re in, if you’re dealing with chronic digestive issues, I would not recommend. It’s just not the right time as of right now. But let’s get you a little stronger and then maybe you could do that. So daily movement, yoga, Pilates, walking, you know, gentle strength training a couple days a week, awesome. Wouldn’t start running marathons with something like this because we do know that that will increase your cortisol and then cause more gut barrier damage. Then the other thing that we want to look at, of course, is.

The supplementation piece of this, so we will usually look at targeted antifungal support, some probiotic support. If you want to work with a medical doctor, of course, you could consider a prescription antifungal medication. But we really want to rebuild this terrain in the gut as a whole. So taking a look at the microbial composition, rebalancing that, supporting digestive function overall, supporting the gut barrier.

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It’s similar to the work that we do with with other clients that maybe don’t have a fungal overgrowth, but they have a different type of overgrowth. Like we still want to look at the gut as a whole, right? So it’s not just antifungal herbs or it’s not just probiotics. Some probiotics may actually tick you off if you have Candida overgrowth or SIBO or histamine issues. So I I would be a bit mindful with those, but we would be looking at good solid nutrition, stress management, targeted herbals.

And gut barrier support and that kind of thing, while of course looking at those underlying root cause drivers. So how’s your stress? You know, have you been burning the candle at both ends for a really long time? Is work really stressful for you? Do you have adequate time to recover? You know, are you like raising three kids and you’re never sleeping? Like that kind of thing. Where can we get you the support? Where can we get your body the support that it needs? considering mold exposure, if that is in your history or if you don’t know if it is, maybe running some proper testing to investigate that.

Taking look at, of course, antibiotic use and in your history recent and past, I would say, and when these when your digestive issues kind of came about, and then possibly doing a deeper investigation into iron as well to see if how that could be impacting things here too. So that would be our approach, nutrition, lifestyle, stress management, you know, you know, cortisol support, mineral support, circadian rhythm work.

supporting detoxification, addressing environmental exposures if necessary, and then really coming in with rebalancing the microbiome aspect of things and then supporting gut barrier and enhancing digestive capacity overall. And just keeping in mind too that, you know, it’s usually never just candida. Like we’ll often see candida with microbial other microbial dysbiosis. So like bacterial overgrowth or a helicobacter pylori infection or, you know, potentially small intestinal bacterial overgrowth or something like that. So, you know, I would never recommend just blindly.

Taking a bunch of antifungal herbs. we want to take a look a look at the whole picture there. And I hope I hope that this episode was helpful for you because Candida gets a lot of a lot of talk. It’s, you know, something that we totally see in clients, we see in labs, can be a little tricky, can take a little bit of time. I would say candida on its own is not a root cause. So we always wanna dig deeper as to like why the candida overgrowth took place in the first place. Sometimes it is more of an acute thing, like the antibiotics caused it, but oftentimes I would say it’s like.

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Wear and tear over time, once again, mold exposure, chronic stress, depletion, iron, kind of looking, looking into all of that. And as always, if you’re interested in getting support on your gut repairing journey, you can always apply to work with us inside of a one-on-one program. The application for that is in the show notes below this episode. And thanks for being here with me today. I hope it was super helpful. And I’ll see you on next week’s episode. Okay. Bye.

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Nutrient Dense podcast. If you found this episode valuable, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and come back next week for a new episode. See you then.