What is brewer's yeast and what does it do for me?

Brewer's yeast is truly magnificent stuff--one of the few complete foods--though it doesn't taste that great.

Many people have inadequate diets for a variety of reasons: The quality of most foods is poor, we eat too fast, the toxins and stresses in today's civilization are greater than ever before, our enzyme systems become less effective as we age . . . the strikes against our good nutrition are numerous.

Brewer's yeast is a great supplement to our diet because it's a lot of nutrients packed into a small container, and it's almost pre-digested, in case we don't break down foods well. In this regard, brewer's yeast is similar to spirulina, chlorella, green barley extract and blue-green algae (known as 'phyto-foods').

If you're going to try brewer's yeast, start slow, with a thimble-full at first. (It can cause lots of gas in some beginners.) Then work your way up, and see how you feel, looking for new symptoms or the ending of old ones. If they decrease, then you aren't sensitive, and you have a power-packed new food that may provide considerable health benefits.

If the symptoms get worse, then you may have a chronic yeast problem (systemic candidiasis), and the food yeast, though great in itself, is not right for you. If that happens, read about systemic yeast in the book 'The Yeast Connection' (by Wm. Crook, M.D., Professional Books, 1986).

People with chronic yeast problems, or sensitivity to yeast may have to be careful ingesting brewer's yeast. I stopped using it in my practice when I discovered so many patients with yeast problems who didn't even know about it. Try phyto-foods if you discover that you have trouble digesting yeast.

Good health.