The environment that maintains the delicate balance of bacteria in our bodies is easily upset.
Generally, the different types of bacteria in the body compete with each other and thereby keep each other in check.
However, there are many factors that can upset that balance and cause an overgrowth of Candida.
As mentioned earlier, once growth rages unchecked, Candida changes form and becomes its own opportunistic infection.
The following is a list of ways in which the bacterial balance of the body can be upset.

• Steroids and Immunosuppressant Drugs - Used for the treatment of severe allergies, these drugs paralyze the immune system and reduce its ability to keep bacteria in check.
  
• Pregnancy and Birth Control Pills - Pregnancy and Birth Control Pills upset the natural hormonal balance of the body sometimes causing an overgrowth of yeast.
  
• Diet - Diets high in sugars and other carbohydrates provide fuel for the yeast.
  
• Environmental molds
• Antibiotics and Sulfa Drugs - Antibiotics are perhaps one of the most overused medications of our time.
  Antibiotics are used to kill the bacteria that makes us sick.
  However, the treatment may also be making us sick.
  Antibiotics cannot distinguish between good bacteria (the bacteria we need to maintain a proper balance) and bad bacteria (the bacteria that is responsible for the illness that is being treated).
  Because of this, antibiotics kill ALL bacteria - the bad and the good.
  This causes an imbalance in the flora which is responsible for keeping Candida in check.
  It has been surmised that the increase in the number of Candida diagnoses is not solely related to the willingness of physicians to render this diagnosis, but may additionally be related to the overuse of antibiotics.
  Antibiotics are prescribed for illness, notably viral infections, for which they are of no use.
  This random dispensing of medication may be one of the direct causes of Candida.
  

While Candidiasis appears to affect women more often than men, the condition appears in both genders.
Women are more likely to have the slight imbalance in hormone levels that can foster the ideal environment for Candida to run amok.
Many women have noticed that, just before the onset of their menstrual cycle, they will experience slight symptoms of a vaginal yeast infection.
These symptoms disappear as soon as the period does.
What these women may not realize is that the hormonal fluctuations that occur at the time of their monthly cycle are likely responsible for an overgrowth of yeast.
This article is continued in "Symptoms of Candida - Candida and Celiac Disease"