Candida is a common problem for a lot of people.
It's a naturally ocurring fungus found in the intestinal tract, but can grow out of control and wreak havoc on the body. There are plenty of antibiotic options for candida, however, with the rise in drug-resistant strains of candida surfacing in hospitals, it's likely that in the coming years our treatment options may begin to fail us.
Using antibiotics for mild candida is also problematic because although it kills the candida infection, it often pushes the microbiome further out of balance, causing long-term problems with other bacterial or fungal species.
In this article, we go over one of the most well-rounded herbal medicinal species for treating this condition, and discuss how it works, and how you can get started yourself.
What is Candida?
Candida is a type of fungus that lives inside all of us. Most of the time it lives in harmony and goes unnoticed. Sometimes, however, it can become pathogenic.
This can, especially after a course of antibiotics wipes out all of the competing gut flora. Since candida is a fungus, it is immune to many of the commonly prescribed medicines, which generally only target bacteria. Once the bacterial colonies of the gut have been wiped out, candida is left to thrive without competition, which is when Candida becomes a problem.
Candida can grow out of control and start to damage our internal organs and overall health.
Signs & Symptoms of Candida Overgrowth
Bad breath
Bloating
Constipation or diarrhoea
Fatigue
Brain fog
Mood swings
Vaginal itchiness
Insomnia
Painful or swollen joints
Body ecology provides a great questionnaire that you can use to help determine if you are being affected by a candida overgrowth.
How is Candida Treated?
Drugs like Nystatin, Diflucan, and Nizoral are often prescribed to treat Candida infections, and in the past have been quite successful.
With a surge in the use of antibiotics over the past century, candida has started to develop a resistance to these medications and is becoming harder and harder to treat.
There’s an increasing number of candida infections classified as “incurable” which can cause significant implications on health and wellbeing. A diagnosis like this often leads to severe anxiety and years of discomfort with no viable option in sight.
In the future, we are likely to see incurable candida strains and will need to rely on herbs to correct and balance these issues which have a much lower rate of resistance.
This is likely because herbs do not only have one active ingredient, rather a slurry of synergistic chemicals that work together to kill the fungus. It’s much harder to develop resistance to dozens of chemicals at a time than a single pharmaceutical compound.
Pau D’Arco Flowers
What is Pau D'Arco?
Pau D’arco is a massive canopy tree of the Amazon rainforest. Its inner bark and heartwood are made into a tea and used for all kinds of bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections.
The pau d’arco tree has shown a lot of promise in the treatment of Candida infection. It’s been shown to directly inhibit 11 different species of candida — including the most common drug-resistant strain Candida albicans.
Pau D’arco has even been tested agains drug-resistant candida strains of candida where pharmaceutical treatments have failed. The results are so far very promising.
How is Pau D’Arco Used For Candida Infection?
Dietary changes are, by far, the biggest factor for preventing and treating candida overgrowth — but herbs like pau d’arco are certainly helpful for making changes happen faster.
Here’s how herbalists recommend using pau d’arco for candida:
1. How Much pau D’Arco Should I Use?
Every pau d’arco supplement contains a different concentration of the herb, so you’ll need to follow the directions on the label.
Here are some general guidelines for using different kinds of pau d’arco:
A) Dried Pau D'Arco Bark (Making a Decoction)
In order to use pau d’arco bark you’ll need to turn it into a decoction.
A decoction is different than a tea in that you actually simmer the bark in water for a few minutes rather than just letting it steep.
Many of the active ingredients in pau d’arco will resist heat for a while, and you’ll need to boil the bark for a while to pull it out of the densely packed cells that make up the wood.
For dried bark made into a decoction you should prepare a 1:30 ratio of water to dried bark. I usually use 100 grams of bark with 3 L of water to use for a couple of days.
You could also make smaller batches with 50 grams of bark and 1.5 liters (6 cups) of water.
Pau D’Arco bark powder will work as well — you just need to add the powder to a teabag before you simmer, or pass the liquid through a strainer when you’re finished.
Boil the roots for about 30 minutes until about 30% of the water is boiled away (leaving you with a 1:20 ratio for the final product).
This tea can then be refrigerated and drunk over the next couple of days.
For the tea, you should aim to drink about a cup (250 mL) every 4-6 hours for the first 2 weeks, then reduce to a lower dose after you start seeing improvement.
B) Pau D'Arco Capsules
Pau D’Arco capsules are another convenient way of using the herb.
While pau d’arco capsules certainly work, they aren’t as strong or cost effective as using the bark as a herbal decoction. You’ll need to take pau d’arco capsules on a regular basis, and will likely require 3 or 4 capsules at a time to get a high enough dose of the herb to have any noticeable effect.
It’s important to follow the directions on the label. The dose of these can vary substantially.
Most companies will recommend about 2 capsules twice per day. For more serious overgrowth issues I would use a little bit more (such as 2 capsules 3 times per day).
C) Pau D'Arco Tinctures
Tinctures are one of the more convenient options when using pau d’arco. You don’t need to prepare any decoctions or powders.
You can add pau d’arco tinctures directly to some water, juice, tea, or any beverage you like. They provide a consistent dose of the active constituents and last for a very long time. The main downside is that these supplements can get expensive over time.
Much like capsules, tinctures will vary a lot in the strength. You can find pau d’arco capsules in strengths ranging as high as 1:1 all the way to 1:10.
The higher the ratio, the more you’ll need to take.
A 1:10 tincture is ten times more diluted than a 1:1 tincture.
Most tinctures will be either 1:2 or 1:3.
You should aim to take around 5-7 mL of these tinctures 2 or 3 times per day.
You can also find pau d’arco tinctures in pre-made formulas with other herbs.
2. Be Consistent
In order for the herb to work efficiently, you’ll need to take it fairly regularly. Pau d’arco works by damaging the cell membrane of candida directly — so the herb needs to come into direct contact with the candida to work effectively.
In order to get the most from the herb you’ll need to use it steadily for a few weeks at a time. It can take weeks or months to destroy enough of the candida to stop overgrowth symptoms.
3. Use Pau D’Arco Alongside Dietary Changes
Pau D’Arco is an excellent herb for fighting candida, but it won’t work alone. You’ll need to adopt some changes to your diet in order for the herb to work effectively.
The best way to use the herb is alongside these key dietary changes:
A) Reduce Sugar Intake
Candida thrives on simple sugars obtained from your diet. Simple carbohydrates like white bread, candy, sauces, and fruits provide candida the perfect fuel for growth.
The first step in reducing candida is to reduce your sugar intake as much as possible. Swap out sugary meals for foods high in complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats instead. You’ll need to do this for at least a few weeks.
Diets like the Palaeolithic diet or ketogenic diet are well-suited for fighting candida overgrowth.
Follow thecandidadiet.com for more information on dietary changes.
B) Increase Fiber Consumption
Fibers are made up of complex sugars. Some fibers are soluble (meaning that we can break them down into individual sugars), others are insoluble (which means we can’t break them down).
While both types of fiber are important, insoluble fiber is especially important for fighting candida.
Insoluble fiber feeds the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut — which compete with candida for real estate. As you kill off the candida with the help of sugar restriction and pau D’arco or other supplements, you’ll need to support the growth of other bacterial species to take its place. Otherwise the candida will just come back as soon as you stop treatment.
Insoluble fiber sources include:
Wholegrain foods
Carrots and other root vegetables
Celery
Beans
Nuts
Psilium husks
How Long Does it Take For Pau D’Arco To Start Working?
Pau d’arco won’t work right away.
Candida took a while to appear, and will take a while to disappear. Your candida problem appeared slowly and will go away slowly as well.
You can expect supplementation of pau d’arco to take 1-3 weeks to start showing any benefit. Depending on whether or not you’re also following a diet plan will have a big impact on how fast you recover.
Mild to moderate candida problems will usually go away after about 2 months while following a strict diet and supplement plan under the supervision of a health professional. More severe cases of overgrowth can take up to 9 months and may require other medical interventions to help manage symptoms in the meantime.
It’s important to note that some people experience flu-like symptoms in the early days of candida recovery. This is normal for more severe overgrowth, but can become very uncomfortable. If this happens, visit a health practitioner for advice, and reduce your intake of pau d’arco or other herbs slightly to slow the die-off that could be causing these symptoms.
Addressing candida is best done by approaching the problem as a lifestyle change — rather than short-term treatment.
Tabebuia Leaves
Other Herbs for Candida
Pau D’Arco is by far the most famous herb for use with candida, but it’s not the only one.
Most herbalists will combine pau d’arco extracts with other herbs to provide additional anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory effects.
Here are some other anti-candida herbs to explore.
This article is for informational purposes only. For serious candida overgrowth, I recommend you visit your local natural practitioner to ensure effective treatment with pau d’arco or similar herbs and supplements.
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References
Portillo, A., Vila, R., Freixa, B., Adzet, T., & Cañigueral, S. (2001). Antifungal activity of Paraguayan plants used in traditional medicine. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 76(1), 93-98.
Silva, E., Melo, F., De Paula, J. E., & Espindola, L. S. (2009). Evaluation of the antifungal potential of Brazilian Cerrado medicinal plants. Mycoses, 52(6), 511-517.
Guiraud, P., Steiman, R., Campos-Takaki, G. M., Seigle-Murandi, F., & de Buochberg, M. S. (1994). Comparison of antibacterial and antifungal activities of lapachol and β-lapachone. Planta Medica, 60(04), 373-374.
Höfling, J. F., Anibal, P. C., Obando-Pereda, G. A., Peixoto, I. A. T., Furletti, V. F., Foglio, M. A., & Gonçalves, R. B. (2010). Antimicrobial potential of some plant extracts against Candida species. Brazilian Journal of Biology, 70(4), 1065-1068.
Pau D'Arco is most commonly used to treat bacterial, fungal, viral, or parasitic infections and has shown measurable effects against all four. In recent years, Pau D'Arco has gained popularity as an anti-tumor agent.