Problems Reported

In 1986, two doctors from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine reported seeing four young women whose nonspecific complaints included chronic fatigue, anxiety, and depression. All four mistakenly believed they had disseminated candidiasis and were taking nystatin or ketoconazole, which had been prescribed by their family physicians. All had read The Yeast Connection and had carried the book into the office during their visits. One patient on ketoconazole had hepatitis, which resolved when the drug was stopped [9].

Worse yet, a case has been reported of a child with a severe case of disseminated candidiasis who had been seen by a "Candida doctor" and given inadequate treatment. The report concluded that "the advice of yeast connection advocates may be inappropriate even for illnesses in which Candida is implicated." [10]

Perhaps the saddest report was a letter in a health-food magazine from a woman appealing for help and encouragement. She said that a clinical ecologist had been treating her for allergies and Candida for four years, that initial tests showed she "was allergic to all foods" as well as to numerous chemicals and inhalants, and that so far nothing had helped.

Dubious Diagnostic Questionnaires

The Yeast Connection contains a 70 or 90-item "candida questionnaire" and score sheet to determine how likely it is that health problems are yeast-connected. Crook has marketed several versions to physicians who accept his theories. The documents state,"if your point score is over 180, candida almost certainly plays a role in causing your health problems." Scores over 120 mean "candida probably plays a role," 60 to 120 means it "possibly plays a role," and scores under 60 mean it is "less apt" to play a significant roll.

Shorter questionnaires have appeared in magazine articles, ads for products sold through health food stores, and flyers used by chiropractors. The most notorious were used as marketing devices by Nature's Way, of Springville Utah, whose product Cantrol, was a conglomeration of capsules containing acidophilus, evening primrose oil, vitamin E, linseed oil, caprylic acid, pau d'arco, and several other substances.

Under federal law, any product intended for the prevention or treatment of disease is a drug, and it is illegal to market new drugs that do not have FDA approval. In 1989, the FDA's Health Fraud Branch issued instructions and a sample regulatory letter indicating that it was illegal to market vitamin products intended for treating yeast infections. In 1990, Nature's Way and its president, Kenneth Murdock, settled an FTC Complaint by signing a consent agreement to stop making unsubstantiated claims that Cantrol is helpful against yeast infections caused by Candida albicans.

Nature's Way promoted Cantrol with several versions of a self-test—one of which is pictured below—based on common symptoms the manufacturer claimed were associated with yeast problems. The FTC charged that the test was not valid for this purpose. The company also agreed to pay $30,000 to the National Institutes of Health to support research on yeast infections [11].

This questionnaire was part of a health-food store display Nature's Way distributed in 1986. Do you know many people who would not answer "yes" to at least three questions?

This action and several others have driven most of the "anti-Candida" concoctions from the marketplace and stopped their direct promotion to the public. However, the ingredients of these products are still marketed individually as "dietary supplements" and practitioners still prescribe them to their patients.

In 1990, the New Jersey State Attorney General secured consent agreements barring Linda Choi, M.D., and Pruyakant Doshi, M.D., from diagnosing and treating "Candida albicans overgrowth syndrome." Both were assessed $3,000 for investigative costs and had their medical license placed on probation for one year. Among other things, investigation by the State medical board had concluded that "Candida albicans overgrowth" was not generally recognized as a clinical entity and had not been established as the cause of the conditions the doctors treated.

I believe that practitioners who diagnose nonexistent "yeast problems" should have their licenses revoked. Some apply this diagnosis to nearly every patient they see.

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herhangi bir islem yapacagini zannediyorsaniz, cok aldanirsiniz!!!

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