What are yeasts?
Yeasts are a form of fungus. The yeasts that cause yeast infections, members of the Candida family, are found as normal intestinal flora in the vast majority of people. They usually live in competitive balance with the natural bacteria of the body, but if one or the other is killed off in great quantities, the remaining microorganism can get out of control.
Yeasts are unicellular fungi (see also “What is the difference between bacteria and fungus?” above). There are various yeasts that you may know about: baker’s yeast to “yeast infection”. Yeast can convert sugars from grains (such as, barley, rice) and grapejuice into alcohol through fermentation. Therefore, it is used to produce alcoholic beverages, including beer and wine. Yeast also produces CO2 gas and is used in baking, such as bread and pastries. The microbe that causes a yeast infection is a yeastlike fungus (and is not the same kind used in EM). This microbe is normally found on humans and is not generally harmful, but can cause problems when the body is weak with some other illness or condition. Reference: stanford.edu/Saccharomyces/VL-what_are_yeast.
