Matcha Green Tea acting as antifungal against Candida

I recently stumbled onto info about matcha green tea that relates to candidiasis. I was initially drawn to matcha green tea because of its high concentration of antioxidants that result in great health benefits. So what is the difference between matcha and green tea? They are both green tea but matcha is finely powdered green tea leaves that you dissolved in hot water and drink. It is so finely powdered that you will not experience any grainy or gritty texture. It is silky smooth. Matcha has 137 times the antioxidants of regular green tea. I has the unusual effect of causing tranquility and alertness simultaneously. Some people put matcha tea powder in smoothies but if you are fighting candida like me you know that any fruit or dairy in smoothies is a no-no. If you make the matcha tea it has some bitterness to it (like any black tea does) but has an interesting flavor which is not what I would call delicious but is rather intriguing. When you shop for matcha online you will be surprised at the wide range of prices for it. The highest grade is referred to "ceremonial grade" and sells for around $30 per ounce. OUCH! There are matchas that are good tasting and equally healthy that sell for 1/10th that price. Here is one that tastes good and has lots of good reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Matcha-DNA-Certified-Organic-Green/dp/B00BG0ZJ0Y/

You can make matcha tea by mixing 1/2 teaspoon of powdered tea in one cup of hot water (I never let the water boil). If you want to make it like the Japanese do in a ceremonial way you can watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48UmgzXBnKg

The health benefits of matcha come from a chemical substance called epigallocatechin 3-O-gallate or EGCg for short. It is both an antioxidant and an antifungal. I have found research papers that describe the antifungal effects of EGCg on candida. It has a synergistic effect when used in combination with other antifungals such as fluconazole. You can read about its antifungal properties here:

http://greentearesearch.breakawaymatcha.com/details.php?id=4515

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14688042

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16831406

My experience with matcha has been fantastic. I drink matcha twice a day. Once at 9 a.m. and again at 9 p.m. It does not make me feel "wired" or jittery. If anything it makes me feel calm and tranquil yet alert. I did experience die off the first few days drinking it. I am pretty much symptom free now but matcha is not the only weapon I've been using against candida.

My real breakthrough was when I started taking nystatin powder orally at 1/2 teaspoon every 8 hours non-stop. That really caused massive die off initially. I think I finally flushed out that candida "honey hole" that was the source of my constant reinfection. Up to that point I was taking antifungals and was having die-off but it was never ending and I could never deliver a knock-out punch to the thing.

I believe that the weakness of most oral antifungals is that they are absorbed into the body and into the bloodstream before they have a chance to get to the really infected part of the gut, the colon and especially the cecum (upper colon). I had been doing the nystatin enemas and was getting some good results from that but not all of the enema is going to find its way to the cecum because the there is fecal matter which can act as a plug blocking passage of the nystatin. Even after a bowel movement there will still be solids in the upper part of the colon. Taking laxatives I found helps a lot here. And for all the talk about candida becoming resistant to nystatin, I always experienced die-off using nystatin. Combinations of different classes of antifungals also prevents resistance. The one antifungal that can be taken orally and will stay inside the gut and not be absorbed is nystatin.

I know from the literature that even though the candida seems to be gone, if I were to go on a "normal diet", it would all come back. Now I am taking high doses of probiotics and a prebiotic called lactofiltrum which feeds the probiotics but not the candida. My stools look amazingly healthy and clean. I have some lactulose on order that should arrive next week. The problem with taking probiotics while on the highly restrictive no carb diet is that the probiotics need starches as food so they can really bloom and proliferate in the gut. They then change to pH of the gut and also produces butyrate which helps heal leaky gut. I can tell that the lactofiltrum is causing the probiotic good bacteria to really proliferate and crowd out the candida. It will not feed the candida. While lactulose also feeds the LAB (lactic acid bacteria) in the gut, it does contain minute quantities of galactose and lactose which will aggravate a candida infection if taken before the candida is under control. However, if the candida is reduced to the point of no symptoms and no die-off, taking lactulose will cause far more good than harm by pushing the balance even further toward LABs and away from candida imbalance.

I feel absolutely great now and I don't plan to blow it by ditching my paleo diet. I'm sorry that this post got long-winded. Maybe I should have split it into 2 posts. Anyway, I feel obligated to try and help my fellow candida sufferers since I know the despair and difficulty of the condition. It isn't easy dealing with if you have a long-lasting or severe case. I can't count how many people come in here with overly simplistic solutions such as 1)pump up the immune system with high dose vitamin D, 2) just take iodine, 3) just take Colloidal Silver , or 4) just take mega doses of vitamin C. There are some benefits from each of these things but they aren't a silver bullet against candida. I find that the people who get over candida are the ones who do their own research on the subject and don't just ask for simplistic solutions on message boards.
Tweet