Beneficial Worms and Bacteria for a Healthy Microbiome

There is a mad rush in home based health rangers to eradicate parasites, however, not all parasites are bad. Some are used by the body to reduce inflammation and assist in bodily functions.

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Coffee enemas, reishi mushroom, black walnut hull, wormwood, raw milk and salt, eucalyptus tea enemas, Oil of Oregano, olive leaf tea, and many other products are regularly used to eliminate parasites and worms. Usually when someone is ill with a chronic illness or autoimmune disease, autism or the like, there is a great parasitic load. They have a function in the body, a use that keeps the whole in balance. Not all parasites fall into a useful category, but most are used in the whole for a reason. 

According to the GAPS Protocol, using parasite eradication is recommended to wait until at least a year on protocol before using anti-parasitics. When the microbiome is damaged, the parasites are part of the balance. If they are removed, they will grow back as they are needed in the ecosystem. This would be equivalent to finding worms in the rotting compost pile. You can spend a whole day picking them out and putting them in a glass jar, but they will only grow back as they are needed in ecosystem. 

The same happens within the body.

We can spend a great deal of effort and time eradicating our parasites, but if they are needed in the ecosystem, they will just grow back.

The only time anti-parasitics are recommended on the GAPS Protocol is when the person has been on protocol, correctly for their needs, for a year and they are not getting better. Using anti-parasitics in this case will allow the body a chance to raise the ecosystem in the small time the parasites are gone. The need for this is rare. 

Laboratory Equipment says, “Intestinal parasites such as tapeworms, hookworms and a protist called Blastocystis can be beneficial to human health, according to a new paper that argues we should rethink our views of organisms that live off the human body.”

They go to say, “(Julius) Lukeš, a senior fellow at CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), and a professor at the Univ. of South Bohemia, co-authored the review published in the August issue of Trends in Parasitology. He says the common view that all parasites are damaging is misguided. While medical textbooks tie parasites to problems such as vitamin deficiency, anemia and diarrhea, a critical review of the evidence suggests that most intestinal parasite infections have no negative impact in well-nourished people with low overall parasite loads.”

This information isn’t isolated to one researcher. “The human immune system has been shaped by its relationship with parasitic worms and this may be a necessary requirement for maintaining our immunological health,” says Parasite Immunology.

It’s also not isolated to one worm.”Whipworms are typically considered a scourge, but there’s also reason to think they have benefits. In the monkeys, they seemed to restore intestinal bacterial balance and prevent the monkeys’ immune systems from dangerous overreaction,” says Wired. 

The problem may be our sterile environments, as projected. 

Parasite Immunology says, “Non-Obese Diabetic mice kept under germ-free conditions developed diabetes at a much faster rate and higher incidence than mice kept under conventional conditions. This observation, made independently in many different laboratories, provoked immunologists to consider the possibility that infection and/or exposure to microbial products was responsible for the reduction of type 1 diabetes incidence in some animal colonies.”

BMC Immunology says, “Parasitic helminths have evolved together with the mammalian immune system over many millennia and as such they have become remarkably efficient modulators in order to promote their own survival. Their ability to alter and/or suppress immune responses could be beneficial to the host by helping control excessive inflammatory responses and animal models and pre-clinical trials have all suggested a beneficial effect of helminth infections on inflammatory bowel conditions, MS, asthma and atopy. Thus, helminth therapy has been suggested as a possible treatment method for autoimmune and other inflammatory disorders in humans.”

The bottom line remains, raise the ecosystem, the microbiome, and the parasites will come into balance. If the body is not getting better after a year of aggressive GAPS Protocol, attention should be given to this area. To read more, click here. 

*Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath, CGP, D.PSc. who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia. She works as a Certified GAPS Practitioner who sees clients in her office, Skype and phone. She has been published in Wise Traditions, spoken at two Weston A. Price Conferences, Certified GAPS Practitioner Trainings, has been on many radio shows, television shows and writes for Nourishing Plot. Since her son was delivered from the effects of autism (Asperger’s syndrome), ADHD, bipolar disorder/manic depression, hypoglycemia and dyslexia, through food, she continued her education specializing in Leaky Gut and parasitology through Duke University, finishing with distinction. She is a Chapter Leader for The Weston A. Price Foundation. becky.nourishingplot@hotmail.com

“GAPS™ and Gut and Psychology Syndrome™ are the trademark and copyright of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. The right of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Patent and Designs Act 1988.