I deliberately let a two meter long tapeworm live in my intestine for two months, writes DR MICHAEL MOSLEY. This is what I felt…

Parasites, like leeches and tapeworms, often get a bad rap, but I find them fascinating. So much so that a few years ago I deliberately infected myself with tapeworms to see what would happen (more on that in a moment).

In the years since this rather grisly self-experiment, there has been growing evidence that worms such as hookworm and tapeworm may hold the secret to reducing chronic inflammation. This is linked to many diseases we associate with old age, including dementia and cancer, but also autoimmune diseases such as asthma and ulcerative colitis.

Indeed, recent research has shown that being infected with a tapeworm can prolong an animal’s life.

That said, I wouldn’t recommend it, especially because being infected with tapeworms can have considerable downsides.

There was recently an extraordinary story in the American press. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine and potential presidential candidate, said part of his brain was damaged by a tapeworm.

It was reported that in 2010 he began suffering from memory problems, initially thought to be due to a brain tumor. But experts decided that a dark spot seen in a brain scan “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate part of it before dying,” he said in reports. legal documents two years later.

Last week, his spokesperson said the worm – a pork tapeworm – had not caused him any long-term physical or mental health problems and that he was fit to run for president.

A gruesome story, to be sure, and one that highlights the dangers of eating undercooked pork, especially if you do so in a country with lax hygiene rules. That’s why when I deliberately infected myself with tapeworm, we decided to go with a beef tapeworm rather than a pork tapeworm.

The idea of ​​the experiment was to see what impact, if any, the tapeworm would have on my immune system. And unlike pork tapeworms, cow tapeworms appear to be relatively harmless and don’t go to places they really shouldn’t, like the brain.

To become infected, I had to travel to Kenya, find an infected cow, then swallow cysts formed by tapeworm embryos. Over the next eight weeks, the cysts “hatched” and the tapeworms latched onto my intestine and began to grow.

During this time, researchers at the University of Salford monitored my blood and were able to see that the tapeworms were helping to dampen my immune response. Otherwise, I didn’t feel any different and didn’t lose weight (the tapeworm diet doesn’t work). After two months, I swallowed a pill camera to film the worms – which were now several meters long and happily wriggling around in my gut. My main reaction was fascination, with a touch of repulsion. It is certainly without regret that I took a pill to kill them.

What we saw in this experiment was the immune-soothing potential of parasitic worms – something that is being exploited by scientists to treat a range of diseases from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis to eczema, asthma, allergies and even multiple sclerosis (MS). Although it is still early days, promising results have been achieved.

In a small study from the University of Nottingham, published in 2020 in the journal Neurology, 71 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (where symptoms get worse, followed by periods of recovery) were given either a dose of hookworm larvae – about 25 of them – administered via a bandage stuck to the arms, or a placebo bandage.

MS is usually caused by an overactive immune system that attacks the insulating layer that covers our nerves, leading to problems with movement and memory. The idea of ​​this study was to see if being infected with the worms would weaken the immune response.

Although the worms did not significantly improve their symptoms or make a visible difference in existing nerve damage, they did result in an increase in “regulatory” T cells in the patient’s blood – these help to keep the immune system under control. And that seemed to prevent further damage.

The MS Society, which funded the research, says it is very unlikely that worm therapy will be approved in the near future, but this type of study gives us valuable information about how worms manipulate our immune system, which will hopefully lead to better treatments in the future.

In another small study, scientists at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in New Zealand infected patients with Crohn’s disease (a form of inflammatory bowel disease) with hookworms to try to control their symptoms.

Over the course of a year, 40 percent of patients remained in remission (without relapses), the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases reported last June. Again, more research is needed.

But perhaps the most dramatic benefit I’ve seen is a more recent study in which German scientists showed that tapeworm infection can triple life expectancy – if you’re an ant, of course .

A team from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz found that ants infected with a particular species of tapeworm not only lived longer than normal, but appeared to do so because the parasites pumped the insects with hundreds of different chemicals, including two powerful antioxidants that appear to protect against the damage normally caused by aging.

There is of course a giant leap from ants to humans, but it almost makes me regret deciding to get rid of my own parasitic tapeworms. Almost.

We need to take care of our liver. Here’s the fast track…

Our liver normally does a fabulous job of removing toxins from our blood and producing bile, a fluid that helps us digest and absorb fats.

Sadly, our livers are in crisis, with deaths from liver disease quadrupling over the past 50 years.

This is largely due to increasing rates of obesity, which has led to an increase in non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease (NAFLD). A normal, healthy liver should contain little or no fat, but when you gain more weight than your body can comfortably handle, some of that fat is stored in your liver.

In the UK, up to one in three people now suffer from early-stage NAFLD which, if left untreated, can lead to serious liver damage, including cirrhosis and liver failure. Signs of advanced NAFLD include fatigue, confusion, dark urine, and itchy skin. If you experience any of these symptoms, consult your doctor.

Our livers are in crisis, with deaths from liver disease quadrupling over the past 50 years.

There is no medical treatment for this condition, but studies have shown that intermittent fasting, particularly the 5:2 diet (reducing calories two days a week), is an effective way to get rid of it.

Is it just weight loss? Not according to a study published last week in the journal Cell Metabolism. When researchers put mice on a 5:2 diet, their livers produced two proteins that reduced chronic inflammation, but also helped protect the liver from developing cancer. These proteins appear to work by preventing the accumulation of fat in the liver.

So if you develop signs of fatty liver disease, you know what to do.

I finally beat the really annoying cough that kept me up at night. Ultimately, what worked for me was taking over-the-counter antihistamines, which apparently ease the itchy nose and throat. Either that or it got better on its own.

I can’t really keep in touch with old friends. And I’m not alone: ​​a recent study by psychologists at the University of Sussex found that two-thirds of us are as reluctant to message an old friend as they are to start a conversation with a stranger . To overcome this problem, researchers asked volunteers to spend a few minutes messaging existing friends or to spend that time scrolling through social media. It was then suggested that they contact an old friend later. More than half of those who sent the training messages actually did so, compared to less than a third in the control group. I think I’ll try.