The Antibiotic/Candida Syndrome

Lewis Thomas popularized the theory of the “antibiotic syndrome” when he wrote that “the microorganisms that seem to have it in for us . . . turn out . . . to be rather more like bystanders. . . . It is our response to their presence that makes the disease. Our arsenals for fighting off bacteria are so powerful . . . that we are more in danger from them than the invaders.”

In studying the effects of antibiotics and how they contribute to the overgrowth of fungal candida, there are at least 10 different mechanisms that explain this process through scientific research and literature.

1. Antibiotics destroy bacterial colonies, thus creating space for candida growth – loss of Competitive inhibition.

2. Antibiotics destroy bacterial colonies that secrete acids that maintain intestinal pH in an acid range (lactic acids).

3. Antibiotics destroy bacterial colonies that secrete acids that inhibit candida’s yeast-to-fungus (Y-F) conversion (butyric acid).

4. Antibiotics destroy bacterial colonies causing a hemorrhaging of intracellular bacterial components such as peptidoglycan (PGN) that directly stimulate the Y-F conversion.

5. Antibiotic suppress macrophages which inhibit fungal candida.

6. Antibiotic suppress cytokines that recruit neutrophils which inhibit fungal candida.

7. Antibiotic suppress cytokines that sequester iron away from candida and other micro-organisms that require iron to grow and spread.

8. Antibiotics destroy bacteria that synthesize B vitamins that help to create HCL for the stomach which in turn helps to maintain the pH of the intestinal tract.

9. Antibiotics cause a “Cytokine Storm” that increases destruction and breakdown of the epithelial lining of the intestinal wall facilitating fungal candida’s dissemination throughout the body.

10. Antibiotics can directly stimulate the Y-F conversion – tetratcycline.
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