Obviously I am not suggesting conditions like vaginal thrush don't exist. And I am not suggesting that Candida overgrowth in the gut never occurs; from
this review, you can see that Candida colonization frequently occurs in gastric ulcers and in inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's. In fact, that review says that Candida overgrowth arises where there is inflammation, as inflammation promotes Candida colonization.
What I am saying, though, is that I have never found any studies which have linked Candida overgrowth / colonization to fatigue, depression, brain fog, and all the other symptoms that naturopaths seem to take for granted that Candida causes. So when naturopaths make these bold statements that Candida overgrowth causes fatigue, depression, etc, on what is that based? Where did they get their information?
When you look at all the pathogens that have been linked to ME/CFS, from enteroviruses to Chlamydia pneumoniae, the reason we can say these pathogens are linked to ME/CFS is because studies have found higher levels of these microorganisms in ME/CFS patients (which then of course may lead some researchers to speculate that these microorganisms might be responsible for causing the symptoms of ME/CFS).
However, I have never seen any study that has found higher levels of Candida in patients with fatigue, depression, brain fog, and so forth.
