Antifungal Effects of Vinegar and Garlic Combinations on Candida albicans

This study was conducted with the following objective: to evaluate the antifungal properties of vinegar and garlic combinations on one strain of Candida albicans using two commercially available vinegar products and one commercially available garlic product. To assess the ability of Candida albicans to grow in the presence of red wine vinegar (rwv), white distilled vinegar (wdv) or garlic either alone or in combination, minimum inhibitory concentrations were assessed and growth kinetic assays were conducted. Methods: cells grown overnight in YPD broth were adjusted to 2e5 and placed into fresh YPD containing vinegar concentrations of 25%, 12.5% and 0% (control) and garlic concentrations of 4mg/ml or 0 mgl/ml (control) alone or in combination. Cells were grown aerobically at 37^·C and at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 hours aliquots were removed from each flask, plated on YPD agar and placed in a 37^·C aerobic incubator for 48 hrs. After this time, colonies were counted to assess survival. Results: both the red and white vinegars were effectively fungicidal for C. albicans at a concentration of 25% (p<0.001, ANOVA). On the other hand, when cells were exposed to 12.5% WDV and RWV, a 2 log reduction of growth was observed; however, total killing was not seen at any time-point. Although 4 mg/ml of garlic powder alone achieved a 3 log reduction in growth, when WDV was combined with 4 mg/ml of garlic powder, a 4 log reduction in growth was seen at 8 hours and total killing was seen at 10 hours (p<0.001). When 12.5% RWV was combined with 4mg/ml garlic powder, minimal reduction in growth was seen. In Conclusion: the results of this study suggest that vinegar in combination with garlic has both fungistatic and fungicidal properties and could potentially be for the treatment of candidiasis