5 Natural Remedies That Can Fight Candida Albicans and Its Biofilms

First time poster & re: Mold/ fungi / biofilms

Thank you Art for this information - I've been using GSE a short time and it seems to be helping so I've looked further and found this post.

My question: do you think this described protocol would be effective against systemic mold infection; the type from water damaged building materials or moldy wood or cellulose products? I suspect that; I have both something in the chest and sinuses and the sinus has been long term (years) undiagnosed; considered it allergies. Had exposure to WDB's in the past. Thought it may be a viral that just hangs on (long virus, or organizing pneumonia). No fever or signs of bacterial infection, no energy or exercise tolerance, constant mucous discharge. I want to go after the biofilms protecting any fungi or mold growth; then the fungi or mold themselves.

With much gratitude...

EQuinn,

Thank you for saying so and I agree, thanks to Earth Clinic and Deirdre Layne for making it all possible. There are so many accessible and well organized remedies on EC at our fingertips. It is easy to take this service for granted, but if it were gone tomorrow, thousands of people would be at a loss without it. I come here all the time to access remedies and I would definitely be lost without it. Thank you, Deirdre, for putting EC together and keeping it going as you have for well over a decade!!!

Art

Art,

Thank you so much for your knowledgeable reply and referential articles. I will follow your advise for my son and will report the progress as soon as I see it, I have faith and your interest to help others suffering, makes it stronger. Thank you and Thanks to Earth Clinic.

EQuinn, I forgot to discuss dosing. In human studies, they typically use a total of 1500 mg per day total in three divided doses of 500 mg each. Typically this is taken at 500 mg before breakfast, 500 mg before lunch and 500 mg before dinner. In my experience, some people report upset stomach if taken before a meal and in such cases taking the berberine with the meal is helpful in alleviating any stomach upset until the body adjusts to berberine . Art

EQuinn,

Berberine has fairly potent antifungal activities on top of its anti inflammatory, antioxidant, anti cancer, antimicrobial and gut microbiome altering effects. Those qualities should make it a useful addition to an anti candida regimen. The following article discusses the use of berberine as an antifungal and you may find it interesting :

https://www.thecandidadiet.com/berberine-antifungal/

Here is a relevant quote :

'

' Fluconazole is a standard treatment for Candida infections. When Fluconazole is used together with berberine against Candida albicans that has been grown on a plate, the two have a synergistic effect, which means that they are more powerful when used together than the sum of either of them used individually (4).

Further work was undertaken in 2013 which showed that berberine damages the DNA of Candida albicans and fluconazole increases the amount of berberine that can enter the yeast cells (5).

Berberine has been proven to be selective in its effects. This means that it can target Candida, and yet does not harm the beneficial microbes including Lactobacilli and Bifidobacter species, that we wish to encourage as part of a healthy microbiome. '

In the following study, the synergy between Berberine and the highly potent antifungal, Fluconazole is discussed. They also discuss how Berberine is helpful with Fluconazole in fighting Fluconazole resistant pathogens :

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35679157/

Here is a relevant quote :

' BH affects multiple target genes in diminishing the resistance of C. albicans strains to fluconazole. This effect may be related to the action of BH on the HOG-MAPK pathway. '

Lastly, in the following study the effectiveness of Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) is tested against multiple forms of Candida :

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212555821000545#:~:text=GSE demonstrated a fungicidal effect, were killed by GSE-treated.

Here is a relevant study quote :

' GSE demonstrated a fungicidal effect against all tested Candida species, whereas miconazole demonstrated a fungicidal effect against only C. albicans. SEM images showed various cell damage patterns in GSE-treated Candida cells. Fluorescence microscopy revealed that almost all Candida cells were killed by GSE-treated. '

Art

Art, we are very grateful for your researches and advises; I'm following your protocol with NAC and grapefruit sees extract for my adult son who has an extreme gluten resistance and many others maladies due to Candida overload. I would like to ask if it could be helpful to add Berberine to the above protocol and, in your opinion what dosage could be used daily. My son is 6.2 ft tall, 240 pounds.

Much respect and thank you in advance,

Esther

ABC,

If the Candidiasis is as evolved as you are saying, it seems odd that you did not mention any type of die off after starting on your treatment regimen? The MB, Borax and Iodine are potent antifungals that could have potentially produced a significant die off when applied together.

Another supplement you might consider is Grapefruit Seed Extract in liquid and or capsule form which is also a potent antifungal among other things.

Art

Hello, I have been suffering from invasive candidiasis with a wide range of symptoms which I posted earlier as well.

My symptoms are,

Twitches in brain, Heart Issues(Pain in the heart, severe heartbeat, angina, left bosy pain), Liver pain, rashes, thick discharge, abodmen pain, kidney pain, loss of memory, muslce aches, low blood pressure, Basically this candida has invaded my entire body and recently I have started taking supplements,

• VITAMINC C 1000 MG 3 TIMES
• SELENIUM 500 MG- 2 TIMES
• Vitamin B3 Niacinamide:500 mg twice a day
• Magnesium- 250 mg twice a day
• Vitamin E -500 Mg once a day
• Arjuna - 1 capsules
• Borax- 5 times a week
• Iodine- 8 drops a day
• Methylene Blue-2 drops a day

And I am planning to add these things in my diet as well,

• Resveratrol
• Interfase( Also, could you please tell me the dosage for interfase how many capsules should I take and for how long??)
• Quercentin( Which I believe aids in breaking Candida biofilm)

I want to know I have been taking all these supplements for around 3 weeks, so how long should I take all these supplements?

I don know if I will beat this horrible monster or not, BUT Your help would be appreciated.

This new study regarding Berberine suggests that it too may be useful in helping to fight Candida Albicans (CA) by helping to restore the effectiveness of Fluconazole against CA :

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35679157/

Here is a relevant quote from the study :

>>> ' BH inhibited fluconazole-resistant C. albicans and the sensitivity to fluconazole increased after BH treatment. ' <<<

Art

I have never heard of IP6. Do you take it in addition to NAC? I have systemic Candida Albicans, not cancer. What brand and where to you purchase IP6? I prefer Pure Encapsulations supplements because they are hypoallergenic and contain no fillers.

Phillip,

Biofilms are a formation of microbes that can adhere to moist surfaces. They can be found in many places such as on metals and including the body. They can form around pathogens in the body and these biofilms can protect some pathogens from the body's defense systems and also from pharmaceuticals meant to kill the underlying pathogen. That is the main way in which they cause health problems in people. There are known biofilm busters of varying effectiveness.

A very common biofilm that is present in many people is tooth plaque. Generally, biofilms are not good for our health. To answer your question, yes biofilms can form in the pancreas. I think this is more likely in a diseased pancreas.

Art

Do biofilms evolve in the pancreas? I am trying to understand biofilms and how they are produced/where they begin?

I had not heard of them before EC.

You know, this brings up something I have missed, the cancer cell line. I have no idea the HCT-. My cancer is really considered rectal due to location.

Hi Betty,

I found this quote that I thought you might find of interest,

>>> ' Except for AgNP1, the growth inhibition potency of AgNP formulations of human colon tumor cancer cells (HCT-15) is 34.5 times higher than carboplatin, one of the first-line chemotherapy agents. Nevertheless, 5-10% of necrotic events, even at the lower concentration evaluated, were observed. The cytotoxic selectivity was confirmed by evaluating the cytotoxic effect on aorta, spleen, heart, liver, and kidney primary cultures from BALB/c mice. Despite the cytotoxic effects observed in vitro, the lethal dose and histopathological analysis showed the low toxicity of these formulations (all of them on Category 4 of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals) and minor damage observed on analyzed organs. ' <<<

Here is where that quote came from :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8308985/

Considering that AgNPs (Colloidal Silver Nanoparticles) have also been shown to destroy some biofilms of certain bacteria that are noted for contributing to the formation of colon cancer, AgNPs seem to be worth reading about. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Earth Clinic has just started selling colloidal silver or will be soon.

Art

Hi Art, yes CRC. Had to work up NAC to 2400mg per day. Started at 1200mg per day. IP6 is one that gets my gut still to this day. Thank you for explaining bacteria and biofilms. The body is an amazing machine but needs help sometimes for sure. EC is great and so are you.

Hi Madelyn,

I think I forgot to include that study link showing how silver can have a negative impact on the gut microbiome, so here is the link I was referring to :

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691521003859?via=ihub

Notice that even after 8 weeks post AgNPs, the gut biome was not fully restored in some cases. Their max dose of silver nanoparticles used in this study for the mice was 2.5 mg/kg. When compared to a human equivalence for somebody around my size this would be approximately 16.5 mg/AgNPs/day or roughly about 3/4ths of one quart of 20 ppm colloidal silver per day. This is a lower dose than my standard loading dose, but higher than my standard maintenance dose of AgNPs to fight a pathogen in my body. The lowest dose used in this study, in my opinion, is too low to be useful against pathogens, but even that dose had a negative effect on the gut microbiome. The decrease in short chain fatty acids or SCFAs is very bad for us on a longer term basis as these help in multiple ways to maintain gut homeostasis and are often depleted in multiple disease states.

Art

Hi Betty,

You must have a tough stomach! I wasn't able to handle 2400 mg of NAC for long. You didn't say what type of cancer, but if it is colon cancer (CC), taking a biofilm buster like NAC can be useful in breaking down biofilms which protect bacteria that are noted for protecting certain bacteria that contribute to CC. It is important to remember that CA is not the only pathogen that uses biofilms to protect itself and utilizing these biofilm busters can be useful against many other biofilm forming pathogens!

Art

Hello Art,

Thank you for sharing this important piece of information about colloidal silver. I had not heard of the study on animals showing its impact on gut microbiome and time needed to rebalance the gut. Thank you for all your contributions to our EC community :)

Thank you, Art! I have been on NAC (2400mg) for a while as part of my anti-cancer protocol.

Hello Coco,

A dosage of less than 600 mg/day would be a low dose. In the case of CA, 1200 seems like it may be more useful based on what that study showed and most people should be able to tolerate that dose. I ran into problems when I got to 2400 mg/day in divided doses. My stomach couldn't handle 2400 mg of NAC after just a very short test at that dose.

Art

Hi Pat,

I believe that there are definite benefits to taking the potent antioxidant and antiinflammatory NAC on the regular, but my view of Colloidal Silver(CS) is not the same and I will explain why.

I look at CS as a potent antibacterial with some similarities to antibiotics. I also see it as a potent antiviral with some similarities to prescription antivirals. It also has antifungal effects that can rival some antifungal prescription medications as well as modest anti parasitic effects.

Would you take an antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal or anti parasitic for the rest of your life whether you needed it or not? Probably not. Since CS has these very specific activities, my opinion is that I should reserve it for when I really need it and the reason for this is simple. There are already bacterial strains that are resistant to CS and taking low to moderate doses of CS everyday is likely to create more bacteria that are resistant to CS and this is something that we absolutely don't need!

I know a lot of people will not like the above statement because they take lower doses of CS daily and feel that it keeps them healthy and I don't doubt it, but this is one way that bacteria can become resistant to CS after long exposure at sub-toxic dosing levels. This is already more than evident with prescription antibiotics where there are now many bacteria that are becoming extremely resistant to these antibiotics that used to be highly effective not long ago. A good example of this is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or MRSA which is becoming more and more common everyday.

The other thing to consider is that CS is a broad spectrum antimicrobial and as such will kill some good bacteria along with the bad. It may kill more pathogenic bacteria than healthful bacteria, but the fact remains that it does kill good bacteria also and this ultimately has the potential to have a negative impact on the gut microbiome and a perturbed gut microbiome is absolutely not good for our long term health! This recent study, although only an animal study, shows the negative impact that CS can have in terms of reduced gut microbiome diversity and reduced short chain fatty acids which are both bad for our longer term health outlook. It also showed that it can take 8 weeks to recover most of the deficits created by CS. If you use it everyday, it may be impossible for the gut microbiome to ever recover resulting in gut dysbiosis which is not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination.

My preference is to conserve CS for times when I absolutely need it and use it no longer than is needed to achieve the desired effects, such as destruction of a toxic bacterial overgrowth.

Art

Art,

What is considered a low dose of N.A.C and what is a high dose?

Coco - Oklahoma

Hello Ed. F.,

Although there is significant anecdotal evidence for using serrapeptase for CA, there are no studies currently available that confirm that action. Given the known activity of serrapeptase, it seems likely that it should be active against CA, so it definitely seems worth a try and if it turns out be not effective enough, you can always try the ones I mentioned.

Art

Hi Tim,

Yes, Stevia has anti Candida a. qualities also.

Art

Terrific article, thank you.

Would taking the Colloidal Silver and NAC alone be beneficial to one's health?Thank you,

Pat

Hi Art,

What about serrapeptase opening biofilm and black seed oil to kill the toxins, then binder to flush out? Will this work also?

What about Stevia for CA? Stevia combats Lyme...