Re: 10 Candida Myths

#6 - Mercury feeds Candida

I'm not sure where this information came from, as I have yet to find any studies that mention this. This mainly seems to be put out by people who think that mercury determines everything in the body. The only possible explanation that I can come up with is that mercury would have a suppressive effect on the immune system, which would possibly allow fungal candida to spread unimpeded. I have yet to find anyone who had this problem. The amount of mercury needed to have a suppressive effect systemically within the body would be greater than most people deal with. Either way, I have never seen any research that states that mercury feeds candida.

A deficiency of iron would slow down the spread of fungal candida, as it would many other micro-organisms. Dr. Sharon Moalem's book, "Survival of the Sickest" points out how some people survived the plague simply by being anemic and not having enough iron stores in their bodies to allow the bacteria to thrive. Fungal Candida however, will steal iron from red blood cells in order to survive. This is another one of its many survival and virulence mechanisms.