Candida and Antibiotics

The literal definition of antibiotics is anti-life, and they effectively do what they were designed to do: destroy pathogenic life, which they do very well. The problem is, they don't stop by eliminating the bad bacteria; they indiscriminately kill good and bad bacteria. Occasionally a person's condition may warrant the use of powerful antibiotics, in order to give them brief relief from a disease process and give them an opportunity to rebuild their immune system. All too often, the use of these antibiotic "big guns" results in overkill, leaving the patient in a weakened condition.

Antibiotic use, of course, is only one of the hazards of living in a modern world made increasingly hazardous by pesticides, herbicides and industrial pollutants that poison our air, food, water and dwellings.

Few people living in modern cultures have escaped the use of antibiotics. Just as toxic chemicals are destroying the world's ecosystems, antibiotics are systematically damaging human ecosystems. Infants and children are often given anti-pathogens and many of these young bodies may suffer antibiotic damage throughout their lifetimes. Only persistent and effective use of lactic acid producing probiotics can help normalize their intestinal tracts.

Antibiotics have been designed to kill, and thus can rightly be called killer molecules. With practically every person in the world being bombarded with various kinds of killer molecules and pollutants, civilization is confronted with the serious threat of biological extinction. For example:

• Crops are being treated with pesticides, which are killer molecules.
• Insecticides are killer molecules.
• Industrial pollutants of our air, soil and water are destroying our metabolic detoxification systems.
• Our foods are undergoing genetic modifications and irradiation.

As a direct result of the indiscriminate use of chemicals in our foods and medicines, we are facing a growing health crisis. Increasing numbers of health professionals believe one primary cause is the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. In fact, "Medical experts believe," writes Prof. Rochlitz in Allergies and Candida, (page 72) "that over 2/3 of the population of the U.S. is presently suffering from chronic Candida." The leading cause is thought to be antibiotics. Sometimes, just one episode of taking antibiotics initiates a life-time of unfolding misery!?

While it is true that antibiotics will kill bacteria that may be harming you, they will also kill the friendly flora (bacteria) that live in your intestines. However, probiotics, consisting of 'friendly' bacteria, such as lactic-acid type strains of acidophilus, compete with any intestinal fungus and other germs and are able to curb or prevent their overgrowth.