Nutritional deficiency in oral candidosis

Abstract

A retrospective study of 108 patients was carried out to in vestigate the possible relationship between infection of the mouth with Candida albicans and blood levels of iron, folic acid and vitamin B 12. The patients were separated into two groups — those with hyperplastic and those with atrophic candidal lesions — and compared with separate control groups. Twenty-one patients had chronic hyperplastic candidosis and seven were iron deficient. Comparison with an age- and sex-matched control group showed the differences to be significant only at the P < 0.1 level. Seven of the patients with hyperplastic lesions had folic acid deficiency and the difference between patients and controls was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). However, no significant differences in iron or folic acid deficiency were noted between 87 patients with atrophic candidosis and 65 controls, and vitamin B12 deficiency was not statistically significant for either the hyperplastic or the atrophic group. It is concluded that deficiency of iron, folic acid or vitamin B12 alone does not promote growth of Candida albicans on the oral mucous membrane but that in some susceptible individuals, iron or folic acid deficiency may facilitate epithelial invasion by hyphae of Candida albicans.