Yeast Woo Via Google

[Zombified]

While reading an article on the Vioxx withdrawl, I noticed the news site had Google ad links, which included this link to stopyeast.com (http://www.stopyeast.com/index.html).

According to the page, damn near every medical condition except possibly stubbed toes is due to yeast infections that result from taking antibiotics... their suggested treatment is "probiotics." Is this just supposed to be the opposite of antibiotics? Supposedly it has some sort of bacteria in it, including something with the disturbing name streptococcus faecalis. Maybe that's not as bad as it sounds, but what the hell?

Needless to say, they have the obligatory "this is not actually medical advice" disclaimer...

Also interesting is the role of Google ad words. Those things go all over the Internet, and as near as I can tell, Google doesn't do any screening at all. So if you're willing to pay a relatively modest amount to Google, a link to your crazy theory will appear on all sorts of otherwise well-meaning sites, possibly including some that would never endorse it.

[Benguin]

I'd heard anti-biotics could bring on yeast infections before --- I'm not sure, but I think that is a known side-effect.

I'm not sure how 'pro-biotics' are supposed to help. Are you meant to, errm, apply them topically?

[Zombified]

Well, I've heard that too, but this seems a bit overboard. I mean, they're attributing all manner of long term diseases to yeast infections. Even autism in children! Can you imagine, these people telling parents not to let their children get antibiotics if they have an infection?!? It's potentially a lot worse than the anti-vaccine people, given that a kid's already sick if you're considering an antibiotic.

It was a link about arthritis that I found on that article about Vioxx - they're claiming its caused by yeast infections and so they're selling their stuff as an arthritis treatment. And by the way they've done their advertizing, they're hanging it onto the Vioxx scare, which seems pretty creepy to me.

To be fair, I'm not sure they actually tell people not to take anti-biotics, but I could easily imagine people drawing that conclusion from the site.

[Prester John]

Pro Biotics are live bacterial cultures. They are supposed to work by being "friendly" (yeuch i h8 that term) bacteria and outcompeting harmful bacteria. Infections are caused by/cause a shift in your normal bacterial flora. Probiotics are supposed to restore the balance and thus cure infections.

I haven't seen any literature in support of this generally, the only literature i am aware of is that given prophylactically (before the event) probiotics can reduce the duration of diarhoea, but the effect is not great.

Streptococcs faecalis is a human faecal bacteria, to be honest i am a little suprised that they can get away with putting that into a culture for human consumption.

[Zombified]

Originally posted by Prester John
Streptococcs faecalis is a human faecal bacteria, to be honest i am a little suprised that they can get away with putting that into a culture for human consumption.
Yeah, I wondered about that. Anything with strep and faecal in the same name sounds like something I don't wanna pay to eat.

[El Greco]

Beyong the hype, there is also very well documented use of both yeast and bacteria in preventing or correcting antifungal and antibiotic side effects, as well as in the treatment of certain GI diseases.

[Prester John]

I'm quite dubious about the worth of eaten probiotics, although its more of a gut (pun fully intended :p ) feeling. Bacteria tend to grow quite well on their own thank you very much and swallowing a load that then get killed by you stomach doesn't seem to be particuarly useful. Then you've got to remember that the majoritory of gut bacteria are anaerobic anyway.

[El Greco]

No need for guesswork. Just head over to Pubmed, plug in "probiotics", and see for yourself. There are tons of studies.

[Prester John]

Yes i had a quick flick through some of them earlier. Its more the advertising of probiotics as the newest way to live forever/cure all that i'm concerned about, not targetted use for specific circumstances.

[Benguin]

Anecdote warning ***
I found they help a bit with morning heartburn, but then following my GPs advise and loosing weight and cutting out evening drinking was far more successful.

[Rolfe]

Are they suggesting swallowing probiotics for yeast infections? I can understand swallowing probiotics for screwed-up gut flora, I do recommend it myself if for nothing else than a way to give the client something for the dog's self-limiting diarrhoea that is compromising their household hygiene, which doesn't involve dishing out antibiotics. (There is evidence that if you give enough, some gets through the stomach and colonises the intestine.)

And I've heard of people using unpasteurised yoghurt topically for topical yeast infections. Doesn't sound completely illogical. But taking oral probiotics for a yeast infection somewhere else in the body? This is completely nuts. As are all these toe-curlingly embarrassing TV ads about "friendly bacteria", one day I'm going to do my TV set a serious injury when one of these is on.

By the way, PJ, is "bacteria" officially singular in the NHS now? I just hear it so often from people I would have expected to know better. (More toe-curling....)

Rolfe.

[crimresearch]

Expect a large pro biotic backlash as the pharmaceutical companies realize that they can market tons of anti-fungal stuff for other than the current crop of uses. Can't wait to see the flood of TV commercials for those.

Part of the Mayo clinic study (at the risk of getting the resident woo started again) included references to the over prescription of anti-biotics for what were increasingly likely to be fungal infections, with the result that the antibiotics killed of the various organisms that could have helped with the yeast, etc.

At least some folks suffering from these conditions can get anti-fungal meds pried out of the HMOs, since they are no longer just for 'cosmetic' purposes, but the side effects will include overmarketing, and of course some bizarre spinoff from the New Age quack med community touting various 'healing modalities'.

[Prester John]

By the way, PJ, is "bacteria" officially singular in the NHS now? I just hear it so often from people I would have expected to know better. (More toe-curling....)

:) We never deal with a singular bacterium so we always use the plural form :p

Personally i think its sloppy and wouldn;t do it cough cough

[Rolfe]

Originally posted by Prester John
Streptococcs faecalis is a human faecal bacteria, to be honest i am a little suprised that they can get away with putting that into a culture for human consumption. We've been told to call it Enterococcus faecalis since, I dunno, the late 1990s?

Do you bug-merchants ever pick a name and stick with it?

Rolfe.

[Prester John]

Originally posted by Rolfe
We've been told to call it Enterococcus faecalis since, I dunno, the late 1990s?

Do you bug-merchants ever pick a name and stick with it?

Rolfe.

Hey i was just using what the company called it. Anyway some of us are quite perverse and enjoy using old names just to annoy and confuse everyone. Besides its the taxonomists who keep changing everything, and they seem to change the names every other day!

[Rolfe]

Originally posted by Prester John
Hey i was just using what the company called it. Anyway some of us are quite perverse and enjoy using old names just to annoy and confuse everyone. Besides its the taxonomists who keep changing everything, and they seem to change the names every other day! I know, I know, I was just winding you up! Interesting that the company don't seem to know the correct name though.

(I suppose you're with these dinosaurs that keep talking about SGOT and SGPT and measuring glucose in mg/100ml.... :D )

Rolfe.

[Soapy Sam]

Oi! Less of the mammalocentric chauvinism!

Dinosaurs were fine animals. Fast, smart and able to sell nearly as many books as cats, despite being extinct!

[Rolfe]

Yeah, but according to [I]Horizon[I] (just finished for you TV-deprived types), they were terribly unlucky and everybody os right because it was a combination of all the theories that finished them off.

I think.

Rolfe.