Yeast Infection & MS Symptoms

Yeast infections caused by various types of Candida microbes are common, ranging from oral or vaginal thrush to systemic infection affecting the gut and other internal organs. Some reports have linked Candida infection to the onset and development of the degenerative disease multiple sclerosis, but as yet, results of such inquiries remain inconclusive.

Candida Overgrowth

• Candida albicans is a microbial yeast commonly found in the guts of most people. In a healthy gut, it can exist quite happily as part of the natural intestinal flora and should cause no symptoms at all. However, any upset in the balance of intestinal flora can allow Candida yeasts to proliferate and, in an immune-suppressed person, this can cause serious risk to health. Candida overgrowth has been shown to affect every part of the body. The yeasts can invade major internal organs, including the brain.

Multiple Sclerosis

• Multiple Sclerosis is a progressive disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It tends to begin gradually with small areas of inflammation in the central nervous system, causing a range of symptoms such as numbness or loss of mobility. Symptoms tend to flare up and then improve in cycles; but over years, the nervous system becomes progressively more damaged and scarred with each flare up, and eventually the increasingly debilitating symptoms may become permanent.

Discredited

• Multiple Sclerosis is not fully understood, but it is thought to be an autoimmune disorder, meaning that the immune system, rather than external infections, attacks the body. In recent years, there has been a good deal of discussion as to whether Candida albicans yeast is linked to the development of the disease. Some of this discussion has been discredited because of lack of scientific research supporting such claims, and the inference that those who claim Candida to be a significant health risk are "quacks."

Yeasts and MS

• The official consensus has been that links between yeast infections and multiple sclerosis have been coincidental rather than causative. However, scientific research published in 2010 indicates that there is some evidence of a connection between fungal toxins and multiple sclerosis. Scientists at the State University of New Jersey found that multiple sclerosis may be triggered by immune responses to fungal colonization related to both yeast infection and grain-based fungal toxins such as those found in contaminated wheat crops. Another 2010 study from Spanish researchers in Madrid found Candida "may be associated with increased odds" of developing MS. However, this was a small study, involving only 80 MS patients and 240 matched controls.

Evidence

• A definitive connection between multiple sclerosis and yeast infection has yet to be made, but alternative health practitioners as well as some conventional scientists continue to suggest links between the two conditions. As such, many natural health practitioners advise adopting anti-Candida steps to improve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, even in the absence of clear evidence.