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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Natural Remedies / Pau d’Arco: Best Herb to Beat Back Candida

Pau d’Arco: Best Herb to Beat Back Candida

by Sarah Pope / Updated: Jan 12, 2025 / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Pau d’Arco Inhibits Candida
  • Candida Diet Recommends Pau d’Arco
  • What Form is Best?
  • How to Use

Why Pau d’Arco is the best anti-candida herb and how to use it to get back on track with healthy diet after consuming too many sweets on vacation or holidays.

cut pau d'arco herb in a dish for resolving candida

At no time during the year is the herb Pau d’arco needed more than during vacation or the holidays!

Having an awesome time while on break is wonderful and fine. However, the risk of off-the-wagon eating during this time is quite sneaky. Bad habits can make their way into our regular routine almost without us realizing what happened.

Have you ever experienced this yourself?

A week or two after the vacation has ended, you may still find yourself eating like you did on break! This can domino into candida overgrowth symptoms like waking up with brain fog, eating midafternoon candy bars or donuts for breakfast, and suffering from stiff or painful joints.

Has this has ever happened to you? Then, you know that the first day or two back on the wagon eating 100% healthy is definitely the hardest.

Those little critters known as gut pathogens which are normally in the minority in a healthy, balanced gut had a heyday while you were eating with abandon. They likely multiplied quickly and have increased greatly in proportion to the beneficial flora.

Pau d’Arco Inhibits Candida

The typical pathogen that overgrows during a period of off the wagon eating is Candida. This term refers to a large family of yeasts comprising 150+ species. Six of these are normally responsible for the bulk of human fungal infections.

Under normal circumstances, these one-celled fungi harmlessly inhabit the tissues of humans.

A balanced intestinal tract from mouth to colon easily keeps pathogenic yeasts in check. In other words, the good guys keep candida overgrowth from taking hold.

When not enough beneficial bacteria are present in a given body tissue to keep Candida under control, pathogenic strains can transform from a harmless state into an invasive species.

Candida overgrowth can occur in many tissues of the body. For example, pathogenic yeasts can take hold in the mouth as oral candidiasis known as thrush.

It can also occur in the scalp as dandruff, in the feet as fungus toenails, or internally as stubborn vaginal yeast infections and UTIs.

Cutting off Candida’s goodies and protective biofilms by eliminating the dietary junk allows the beneficial microbes to re-exert their authority and bring gut pathogens back into subjection. Hopefully, this occurs before they start causing health issues.

Once given a foothold, pathogenic yeast won’t go away easily!

It takes about 24-72 hours of perfect eating to get over the hump in my experience. After that, you will likely find healthy eating comfortable again. You won’t be craving treats or junk all day long. This means blood sugar will stabilize back into a normal steady routine without excessive peaks or valleys.

The good news is that herbs can provide much-needed assistance during those initial difficult hours when the gut pathogens like Candida are clamoring for their sugar fix and you are struggling to put an end to the feeding frenzy.

The best herb to use for this purpose is Pau d’Arco, also known as Tabebuia.

The Pau d’Arco herb is derived from the inner bark of a beautiful, large tree that is native to the rainforests of Central and South America. It will grow in any warm, humid clime. I am fortunate to have two of these beautiful trees, Tabebuia impetiginosa, growing in my front yard.

Candida Diet Recommends Pau d’Arco

I first learned about Pau d’Arco while on the Candida Diet over 30 years ago.

Although the Candida Diet failed miserably to improve the health either of myself or my husband (we eventually realized that eating traditionally was the way to healing and health, not fad diet silver bullets), we found this powerful herb highly effective at repressing Candida and significantly reducing sugar cravings.

Pau d’Arco has been used as a medicine to counteract fungal overgrowth for centuries. Science is validating these anecdotal observations with solid research.

For example, the Brazilian Journal of Biology found that Tabebuia avellanedae, one tree species that is the source of the Pau d’Arco herb, does indeed exert an inhibitory effect on yeasts. (1)

What Form is Best?

Pau d’Arco is most often consumed as a medicinal herbal tea (this is the brand I use).

Warning…it is an acquired taste at best! Even after drinking it as needed for the past 2 decades, I still don’t like it much!

The good news is that the taste isn’t so terrible that you can’t drink a cup or two for a few days. This practice will help you get back into the routine of healthy eating with far less agony.

If you absolutely cannot stand the bitter taste, try using a Pau d’Arco tincture instead (this is a good brand to try).

How much sugar is too much? The definition of sugar moderation is less than 36 grams (3 tablespoons) per day. Most importantly, this includes fruit and fruit juice.

To give you an idea of how little sugar this actually is, one navel orange contains approximately 23 grams of sugar.

More than 36 grams of sugar per day causes significant immune system impairment. This limit is based on the research described in the classical compendium Search for Health by Tom Valentine.

How to Use

Two cautions with regard to consumption of Pau d’Arco tea are to start slow! This avoids uncomfortable Candida die-off symptoms.

Secondly, make sure you get the real thing.

There are Pau d’Arco imposters out there, so make sure the source of your herb is either the Tabebuia avellanedae tree or the Tabebuia impetiginosa tree.

Mahogany bark, for example, apparently has a similar color and aroma to the bark of the Pau d’Arco tree but does not have its beneficial effects when consumed as a tea.

Getting back on the healthy eating wagon is not nearly as tough when you use Pau d’Arco as a helpful herbal tool!

pau d'arco herb in a porcelain bowl

References

(1) Antimicrobial potential of some plant extracts against Candida species

More Information

Biofilms in treating Candida
The 11 Best Natural Antibiotics and How to Use Them
Can Candida Sufferers Drink Kombucha?
Slippery Elm for Natural Digestive Relief
Rooibus Tea: Delicious and Naturally Caffeine Free
Top 3 Herbs for Fertility

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Category: Natural Remedies
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (80)

  1. Sally

    May 19, 2017 at 6:41 am

    UNM studies indicate that the beneficial compounds in pao D’arco are not easily transmitted in water. Why do you recommend a tea when a capsule is a more effective vehicle?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      May 19, 2017 at 10:46 am

      Use a capsule if you prefer for sure! I have had great results as I know others have too using the tea though.

  2. Sarita

    May 7, 2017 at 11:17 pm

    Hi Sarah! I have the same question as Peggy. I just bought a bunch of boxes of pau d’arco tea bags, but it calls the ingredients tabebuia serratifolia. Will this herb be effective in fighting candida?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      May 8, 2017 at 10:08 am

      That is the scientific name for pau d’arco, so you are good 🙂

  3. Sara

    Mar 30, 2017 at 1:02 am

    Which brand of Pau D’arco do you suggest?

    Reply
  4. Sarah

    Feb 17, 2017 at 11:51 pm

    I got Pau’darco in oil form an it has became clear. Is that bad?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Feb 18, 2017 at 9:19 am

      Best to contact the manufacturer with that question.

  5. Peggy

    Jan 24, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    Thanks for this post Sarah. I just realized my Pau d’Arco tea is Tabebuia serratifolia . Will it not help with Candida?

    Reply
  6. J

    Dec 23, 2016 at 9:54 pm

    Can you use this for children? Is there a capsule form that can be used?

    Reply
  7. Jane Clarke

    Oct 24, 2016 at 4:11 am

    I have suffered for 9 years with IBS symstoms.Having every test and spending fortunes. Could candida be the reasons I am so tired all the time, forgetful and have severe bloating and gas ?
    I have purchased pau’darco tea, I hope for positive results

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Oct 24, 2016 at 7:42 am

      Here’s an article on resolving IBS. This may prove helpful for you also. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/heal-ibs-naturally-with-food/

  8. julie

    Oct 5, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    paudarco.org/cautions.php – here it strictly advise not to drink while breastfeeding.

    Reply
  9. Dana

    Sep 15, 2016 at 3:43 pm

    I am wondering if you suggest this to treat thrush? Or would you suggest opening a capsule of probiotic as I read in another one of your articles at the end of the day as well? It is hard to find a gp who also subscribes to these ideas. How does one find one?

    Reply
  10. Celina

    Sep 6, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    Where can I source authentic Pau D’Arco tea?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Sep 6, 2016 at 4:42 pm

      There is a link in the article above to a brand that I use myself.

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