Cause of Vaginal Yeast Infection

Understanding the cause of vaginal yeast infection can help you prevent one in the future!

Understanding the causes:

The yeast, or fungus Candida which normally lives in the vaginal area, becomes overgrown, causing a yeast infection.

1. Pregnancy. That’s right, yeast infection in pregnancy is common due to the change in hormone levels.

2. Menstruation. The hormone changes right before your period can also lead to yeast infection.

3. Use of antibiotics. Taking antibiotics can actually cause the natural, delicate balance of the “good” bacteria and yeast to get imbalanced, causing yeast infection.

4. Steriods. They can raise the sugar in your blood and inhibit your body’s ability to fight off infection, making the user more prone to yeast infection.

5. Oral contraceptives. The estrogen levels in oral contraceptives cause some women to get yeast infections.

6. Uncontrolled diabetes. The high level of sugar in the blood can cause yeast to grow, along with the fact that diabetes can cause immune system to be weaker.

7. Immunosuppression. A weakened immune system can cause many infections to be more frequent, including vaginal yeast infections.

8. Douching. This can disrupt the natural balance of the environment of the vaginal area.

9. Wearing certain clothing. Wearing tight clothing or wet swimsuits for extended periods of time can lead to yeast infections.

So, you may be wondering if nutrition somehow plays a role in vaginal yeast infections.

The answer is maybe.

If you have diabetes, nutrition definitely plays a role! By keeping your blood sugar under control, yeast infection prevention is one of many benefits you may receive.

There is not any hard and fast evidence that eating sweets, processed foods, milk, or fruit causes yeast infections. And beware that leaving out milk and fruit could definitely cause you to be deficient in some important nutrients.

Especially be careful cutting foods out of your diet if you are pregnant, since nutrition during pregnancy is so important for you and your baby’s health!

Cutting out sweets is never a bad idea even for general health purposes, so it could not hurt to try that if you are suffering from vaginal yeast infections.

By knowing that there is not just one cause of vaginal yeast infection, but many, hopefully you can make some lifestyle changes to help prevent one in the future!