[AD]

I've seen several people on the board mention "having" yeast. All I can think of when I hear the word "yeast" are the granules that come in a yellow package to make bread rise.I know this can't be the same thing, but it does seem confusing. I know that yeast used in baking causes "gas" in bread that makes it rise; is there some similar fermentation process in the colon?

 

[flux]

Yeast are fungi, which are microscopic living things. There are just different ones. The ones for baking are called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. They are not pathogenic. The ones people believe they suffer from are called Candida albicans. These are opportunistic pathogens. That is, they will cause disease in a big way when the immune system is sick or busy with other things such as in AIDS. On the skin and related tissues, in healthy people, they can be annoying (e.g, vaginal yeast and dandruff), however. For the most part, they do not harm the gut because it is actually protected by the voluminous amount of bacteria in it.

 

[AD]

Thanks for clearing that up!

I have trouble keeping up with all the talk of different types of bacteria, antibiotics, and probiotics. I also believe that if someone had "bad" or toxic bacteria in his or her digestive system, he or she would have to be sick, have a disease or some problem or illness unrelated to IBS.