Can Vitamin C Kill Fungus

Imaging Studies Show Hydroxyl Radical Formation Changes In Cellular Redox State & Cell Morphology

The literature suggests that HO. formation could explain the toxicity of ascorbate . Thus, we used the relatively specific fluorescence probe HPF for imaging of intracellular HO. generation . Figure 5A & B showed no HO. production when cells were shaken at 37°C either in YPD alone or in YPD-ascobate. A slight green fluorescence was observed in Figure 5C when Candida was shaken in PBS without ascorbate at 37°C. More pronounced green fluorescence was observed in Figure 5D when Candida was incubated with PBS ascorbate without shaking at 25°C. However when Candida was shaken in PBS ascorbate at 37°C for 30 min there was an intense green fluorescence visible in every cell indicating a marked increase in HO..

Representative confocal imaging of hydroxyl radical generation in Candida albicans after 20 min of incubation in phosphate-buffered saline or phosphate-buffered saline-ascorbate with or without shaker at 37 and 25°C, respectively -fluorescein and images were acquired at 40X-zm-6), scale bar = 5 M.

Cells incubated in: yeast-peptone-dextrose in shaker 37°C yeast-peptone-dextrose ascorbate in shaker 37°C phosphate-buffered saline in shaker 37°C PBS ascorbate without shaker 25°C PBS ascorbate shaker 37°C.

Ascorbate monoanion is a one-electron reducing agent that can reduce ferric iron to ferrous iron producing ascorbate radical .

Immunomodulation As Therapy For Fungal Infection: Are We Closer

• 1Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medicine Cluster National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
• 2Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
• 3Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation , Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
• 4Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
• 5Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
• 6National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, Singapore

Immunomodulation As Primary Function Of Vitamins Upon Infection

K-means clustering of the 6076 differentially expressed genes coupled with gene ontology enrichment analysis allowed us to gain insight into the functional relevance of different groups of vitamin-regulated genes, depending on their role during infection .

Figure 3: Heatmap of K-means clustering of DEGs and subsequent GO enrichment analysis.

K-means clustering was performed on variance-stabilized read counts to build a heatmap for the 6076 differentially expressed protein-coding genes . A priori, the model-based optimal number of K=18 was determined. The clustering of the rows is based on euclidean distance. The colors in the map represent row-scaled expression levels: blue indicates the lowest expression, white indicates intermediate expression, and red indicates the highest expression. Selected clusters were analysed with regard to their biological function by GO enrichment analysis. Most enriched GO categories are shown for representative groups of clusters displaying their fold enrichment.

Figure 4: Gene ontology analysis of the vitamin-induced transcriptional changes during infection.

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Vitamin C May Protect Against Stress Caused By Cold And Hot Environments

Studies in animals and humans have indicated that vitamin C may protect against stress caused by cold and hot environments . Some common cold studies with positive results investigated physically active participants in cold environments and other studies investigated marathon runners in South Africa . Therefore, the effects of vitamin C in the protection against cold or heat stress might also be relevant when explaining the benefits in those studies.

What Can You Do

There isnt always a reason why a baby develops oral thrush, and its not usually caused by poor hygiene. There are, however, several things you can do that may help prevent it:

• Sterilise any feeding equipment such as bottles and teats regularly, as well as dummies or any toys your baby puts in their mouth .

• Try giving your baby some water to drink straight after a feed, as Candida may thrive on any milk that stays in their mouth after feeding.

• Inform your doctor or midwife if you have any pain or discharge during breastfeeding, as these could be a sign of a nipple yeast infection that could be transmitted to your baby during feeding.

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Candida Yeast Mold Fungus 101

Yeast is a fungus that grows as a single cell. They look like translucent crisped rice cereal under a microscope. Mold is fungus that grows in multicellular filaments called hyphae. Fungi is the plural form of fungus, so, for instance, if were talking about Candida albicans we call it a fungus. If were talking about more than one specific kind, its fungi.

Candida is a genus of yeasts. There are nearly 20 different strains with different qualities peculiar to each species that we know of. Candida is the most common cause of fungal infections worldwide. Many different species of Candida are found in our gut flora, most commonly the C. albicans. Other fungi are also found in our gut. Any protocol that addresses Candida properly addresses all fungal overgrowth. Though they mean different things, often times within medicine the words Candida, fungus, and yeast are used interchangeably. Mold, on the other hand, is not generally used synonymously with the latter. Generally, when health practitioners speak of mold, they are referring to environmental exposure, like from a moldy home, for instance.

Black mold and other mold exposure should also be treated by an anti-fungal protocol. Black molds and other molds do not directly cause Candida overgrowth, but anything that depletes the immune system for a long enough period of time will lead to Candida overgrowth.

Light Therapy May Combat Fungal Infections New Evidence Suggests

Date:

Duke University Medical Center.

Summary:

A newly discovered mechanism by which an infectious fungus perceives light also plays an important role in its virulence, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center. The findings suggest that changes in light following fungal invasion of the human body may be an important and previously overlooked cue that sparks infection, the researchers said.

Durham, N.C. A newly discovered mechanism by which an infectious fungus perceives light also plays an important role in its virulence, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center. The findings suggest that changes in light following fungal invasion of the human body may be an important and previously overlooked cue that sparks infection, the researchers said.

The discovery in the human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans further suggests that light therapy, in combination with anti-fungal drug treatments, might offer an effective method to combat a variety of fungal infections, particularly those of the skin or nails, said HHMI investigator Joseph Heitman, M.D., James B. Duke professor of molecular genetics and microbiology and medicine at Duke.

Light normally inhibits mating of C. neoformans. The Duke team has now identified two genes responsible for that light response. Loss of the same genes also reduces fungal virulence in mice, they reported.

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Vitamin C And The Common Cold

Interest in the effects of vitamin C on the common cold originated soon after purified vitamin C became available. The first controlled trials on vitamin C were carried out as early as the 1940s. For example, in the 1950s, a British study examined the clinical effects of vitamin C deprivation, and reported that the geometric mean duration of colds was 6.4 days in vitamin C-deprived subjects and 3.3 days in non-deprived subjects, and the authors concluded that the absence of vitamin C tended to cause colds to last longer .

Figure 1 shows the number of participants in placebo-controlled studies in which 1 g/day of vitamin C was administered. It also illustrates the main time points of the history of vitamin C and the common cold.

The numbers of participants in the placebo-controlled trials for which 1 g/day of vitamin C was administered. The numbers of participants in studies published over two consecutive years are combined and plotted for the first of the two years. This figure is based on data collected by Hemilä and Chalker . See Supplementary file 1 of this review for the list of the studies. RCT, randomized controlled trial.

Yogurt Probiotics And ‘good’ Bacteria For Yeast Infection

The is home to numerous beneficial microbes, which keep pathogenic microbes, including Candida, in check.

The yeasts grow out of control when something such as antibiotics, hormones, pregnancy, or health issues, like diabetes and HIV or AIDS disrupts that delicate balance.

Because of this fact, one of the most common natural remedies for yeast infections has long involved restoring the vagina’s population of friendly bacteria, especially Lactobacillus acidophilus, by using yogurt or probiotics.

Overall, despite a host of research on the topic, the evidence for consuming healthy bacteria to treat or prevent yeast infections is inconsistent, at best.

An early report in 1992 found that daily ingestion of yogurt containing L. acidophilus decreases candidal colonization and infection. Another study published in 2010 found that probiotics taken after conventional treatment of vaginal yeast infections may lead to “somewhat fewer recurrences” of the infection.

But numerous reviews have found that most clinical trials on the subject had methodological issues, making it difficult to draw reliable conclusions.

For instance, a review published in the Journal of Chemotherapy found that Lactobacillus strains can help treat bacterial vaginosis, but the bacteria have no clear benefit for yeast infections.

Either way, regular ingestion of beneficial bacteria poses very little harm, so you can try the remedies without worry .

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Infections Increase Oxidative Stress

Vitamin C is an antioxidant. Therefore, any effects of vitamin C may be most prominent under conditions when oxidative stress is elevated. Many infections lead to the activation of phagocytes, which release oxidizing agents referred to as reactive oxygen species . These play a role in the processes that lead to the deactivation of viruses and the killing of bacteria . However, many of the ROS appear to be harmful to the host cells, and in some cases they seem to play a role in the pathogenesis of infections . Vitamin C is an efficient water-soluble antioxidant and may protect host cells against the actions of ROS released by phagocytes. Phagocytes have a specific transport system by which the oxidized form of vitamin C is imported into the cell where it is converted into the reduced form of vitamin C .

Influenza A infection in mice resulted in a decrease in vitamin C concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, which was concomitant with an increase in dehydroascorbic acid, the oxidized form of vitamin C , and in vitamin C deficiency influenza led to greater lung pathology . Respiratory syncytial virus decreased the expression of antioxidant enzymes thereby increasing oxidative damage . Bacterial toxins have also led to the loss of vitamin C from many tissues in animal studies .

What Does Vitamin C Do

Vitamin C is a type of antioxidant. It helps protect the body from free radicals that damage and destroy otherwise healthy cells. In this respect, getting enough of the nutrient is just one way you can support your bodys natural defenses against illness. This is how it gained its reputation as a virus-fighting vitamin.

It also helps increase iron absorption, which is essential for growth and overall body functions. Not having enough vitamin C can lead to a potentially deadly condition known as scurvy.

Oranges and orange juices are perhaps the best-known sources of vitamin C, but other items in the produce aisle are chock-full, including:

• sleeping problems

People with hemochromatosis are in danger of a vitamin C overdose. This condition causes your body to store excessive amounts of iron, which is exacerbated by taking too much vitamin C. This condition can lead to body tissue damage.

Vitamin C supplements may also interact with certain medications. This is especially true of medications for heart disease and cancer. Be sure to check with your doctor before taking a supplement.

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Ascorbate Kills C Albicans In Pbs But Not In Growth Media & Presence Of Glucose In Pbs Decreases Killing

As preliminary studies had shown that the ascorbate-mediated killing of C. albicans was pronounced when the cells were incubated in PBS, we compared the time-dependent killing when the cells were shaken at 37°C, suspended either in growth medium or in PBS. Moreover to test whether the antifungal activity of ascorbate against Candida is altered in different growth media, we compared media containing fermentable carbon source dextrose or a nonfermentable carbon source glycerol . Figure 1 shows that incubation with shaking in PBS ascorbate at 37°C almost eradicated the cells after 90 min, while in growth media there was no killing, but rather modest proliferation . Growth media containing fermentable or nonfermentable carbon sources made no difference with no killing observed in either case. To further investigate whether presence of glucose in PBS would alter the metabolism or antioxidant capacity of Candida, thus alter killing, we compared incubation with shaking in PBS ascorbate with PBS-glucose-ascorbate at 37°C. Almost two logs of inhibition of killing was observed with added glucose at 60 and 90 min .

Time-dependent killing of Candida albicans with 90 mM sodium ascorbate shaken in phosphate-buffered saline, YPD, YPG or phosphate-buffered saline with 20 g/l glucose at 37°C.

Controls included shaking in PBS or YPD without ascorbate.

*p < 0.05 ***p < 0.001.

PBS: Phosphate-buffered saline YPD: Yeast-peptone-dextrose YPG: Yeast-peptone-glycerol.

Vitamin C Shortens And Alleviates The Common Cold

The effect of vitamin C on the duration and severity of the common cold has been studied in regular supplementation trials and in therapeutic trials. Regular supplementation means that vitamin C was administered each day over the whole study period, and the outcome is the duration and severity of colds that occurred during the study. Therapeutic vitamin C trial means that vitamin C administration was started only after the first common cold symptoms had occurred and the duration of colds were then recorded.

In regular supplementation studies, 0.2 g/day of vitamin C decreased the duration of colds by 9% . When the dosage was 1 g/day of vitamin C, the mean duration of colds was shortened by 8% in adults and by 18% in children. Vitamin C also significantly alleviated the severity of the colds.

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Bioinformatic Analysis Of Rna

Quality check and trimming of raw sequence data

The raw data in fastq format were checked with regard to quality and, thereafter, trimmed with a window size of 10 using Prinseq. After removing rRNA reads, the trimmed reads were mapped onto the human genome version GRCh38 with Segemehl as described in Riege et al. with default parameters and the splits option. We used HTSeq-Count to quantify strand-specific and uniquely mapped reads at the exon level. As reference, the full human Ensembl annotation was chosen, including both protein- and non-coding genes. Thereafter, the mapped reads were counted per gene and per sample at the exon level and used as input for statistical analyses carried out with DESeq2 and various Bioconductor packages in R.

In order to filter out low-expressed mRNAs, we calculated transcripts per kilobase million to eliminate potential biases due to transcript length in normalized read counts. Subsequently, for each stimulatory setting we used TPM=5 as a minimum limit for detectability of transcripts. For more detailed information on read processing, see publication by Riege et al..

Differential gene expression and key pathway analysis

Pairwise comparisons were carried out to address the effect of each pathogen stimulation and also the effect of the vitamin-mediated regulation in each stimulatory setting .

In silico analysis of response elements

How Effective Are Home Remedies For Treating Yeast Infections

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Yeast infections are the most common type of vaginal infection after bacterial vaginosis, according to a report published in the journal The Lancet.

Vaginal yeast infections are the result of an overgrowth of the fungus Candida albicans, and less frequently other Candida species, such as C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, and C. krusei.

Treating yeast infections typically requires killing the fungi with antifungal drugs called azoles, which can be purchased by prescription or over the counter . These include:

Though some positive anecdotal reports can be found on the internet, most natural remedies for yeast infections are not supported by rigorous clinical studies.

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Implications Of The Common Cold Studies

Given the great variations in the vitamin C dosage levels in the vitamin C and control groups, and the apparent problem of non-compliance in some studies, it is obvious that the comparison of different vitamin C trials can be complicated. The generalization of the findings of any particular trial is limited irrespective of its methodological quality and statistical power. However, the large variations in vitamin C levels in the vitamin C and control groups, and the non-compliance in some studies, both predispose against a false positive differences between the study groups. In contrast, they make it more difficult to detect true differences, and therefore the findings on common cold duration and severity shown in Table 4 may be biased downwards and might camouflage even stronger true effects.

Vitamin B3 As A Novel Approach To Treat Fungal Infections

Date:

University of Montreal

Summary:

Scientists have identified vitamin B3 as a potential antifungal treatment. Infections by the yeast Candida albicans represent a significant public health problem and a common complication in immunodeficient individuals such as AIDS patients, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and recipients of organ transplants.

A team of scientists from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer of the University of Montreal have identified vitamin B3 as a potential antifungal treatment.

Led by IRIC Principal Investigators Martine Raymond, Alain Verreault and Pierre Thibault, in collaboration with Alaka Mullick, from the Biotechnology Research Institute of the National Research Council Canada, the study is the subject of a recent article in Nature Medicine.

Infections by the yeast Candida albicans represent a significant public health problem and a common complication in immunodeficient individuals such as AIDS patients, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and recipients of organ transplants. While some treatments are available, their efficacy can be compromised by the emergence of drug-resistant strains.

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