ALT Fact: Up to 75% of all American women contract Candida yeast infection at least once in their lives. Imbalanced gut microbiota could cause some serious health problems. One of the most common ones is a disease called candidiasis, which is caused by Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis overgrowth. Those are the yeasts that live in our digestive tract and mucous membranes. Candida usually lives in peace with our other gut microflora. However, when symbiosis is impaired, Candida can begin to grow, expand, and colonize the gut uncontrollably. In this process, the fungus would damage the intestinal walls, spread out to blood vessels, and infiltrate into other tissues or your body. Healthy microflora may prevent the growth of Candida and other pathogenic bacteria.