Joel, a 55 year old man came to see me because of a terrible case of psoriasis that was especially bad on his arms and bothered him when he wanted to wear short sleeved shirts. As I questioned him further I learned that he also had terrible digestive problems including gastrointestinal reflux called GERD. He had been suffering from GERD for years and was taking a prescription drug to control symptoms.

He was very ready to make the changes that I outlined for him which was good because it would take at least 3 months of diligence to get him back on track. I explained that he had a very common digestive imbalance of good versus bad bacteria called “dysbiosis” or “candida”. There are many more bacteria in the gut than there are cells in the human body that weigh between 3-5 pounds! Having a balance of these bacteria is like having a well fertilized garden. It is important to keep the garden well fertilized to produce the best vegetables. The same is true for the intestinal tract which is called The Second Brain by Michael Gershon.

If the intestinal tract is not well colonized with healthy bacteria the “bad bacteria” tends to overgrow creating a dysbiosis. Many symptoms can result: gas, bloating, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, heartburn, acne, psoriasis, fatigue, headaches, foggy thinking, fungal skin infections, hives, allergies and hayfever,  anal itching, vaginal discharges and itching,weight gain, poor immunity and poor quality of sleep.

The causes of this imbalance include: antibiotics, H2-blockers or other antacids, age, yeast in the diet in the form of breads, sugar and alcohol, not being breast fed, being born by C-section, the use of hormones in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy and lack of fiber in the diet.

The gut should be heavily colonized with the “ good guys” lactobaccilus acidophilus and bifidobacteria, but often the opportunistic bacteria, “bad guys” such as bacteroides, clostridium and coliforms take over contributing to the host of symptoms listed above. The beneficial bacteria promote healthy digestion and optimal nutrient absorption. The optimal balance of bacteria is developed during infancy during vaginal delivery and secondly by consuming breast milk for the first year of life. This delicate balance is offset when these do not happen and or antibiotics are prescribed during the first year of life.

Taking “probiotics” facilitates the growth of the “good guys” and is a central part of the candida program that is used extensively in my office. To kill off candida in the gut you want to: 

1)  kill off the overgrowth of opportunistic organisms; 
2)  re-colonized with probiotics and 
3)  flush the bowel with a good fiber which also provides a good medium for health bacterial growth.

Probiotics are even prescribed by MD’s along with antibiotics they are getting so popular! However not all probiotics are created equal! The number of bacteria per capsule that you see written on the label may not be what is actually viable. I recommend Seroyal’s HMF forte and Natren’s bifobacteria.

Joel persisted with a 3-month candida program in addition to other nutritional recommendations I had made, and by this time his psoriasis was 90% cleared up. I warned him that in the long run he would need to keep up this lifestyle of a low sugar and low yeast diet to keep his skin looking healthy. I also recommended that he take probiotics for the rest of his life. This would maintain optimal intestinal health and ultimately his immune system because 60% of the immune system resides in the intestines. He was happy to do so because he was off his medication for GERD, he had lost 20 pounds, he slept a lot better, his LDL cholesterol returned to normal, his energy was back to normal and he wanted to avoid the colon cancer his father died from.