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Scientists in the UK have a surprising (and appetizing) way to get rid of worms – junk food. Their research reveals that a high-fat diet allows the immune system to get rid of parasites, which are the leading cause of illness and death in the developing world.
Parasitic worms affect the lives of about a billion people worldwide, especially those who face poor sanitation and access to hygiene products. One of these parasites, called the whipworm, lives in the intestine and causes an infection called trichoriasis. This infection damages the large intestine and may lead to abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, headaches and even bloody stools.
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In Western countries, high-fat diets are quite common. However, it is still unclear how the typical “Western diet” interacts with worm infections. A team from Lancaster University in collaboration with the University of Manchester tried to find an answer to the question.
“In order to study how diet affects parasitic worm infection, we used a mouse model, Trichuris muris, which is closely related to the human whipworm Trichuris trichiura, and to see how a high-fat diet affects immunity,” said lead author Dr. Evelyn Funjica in a press release. .
Previously, evidence suggested that immune responses that eliminate the parasite rely on white blood cells called T-helper 2 cells for help. They are designed to kill parasites in the digestive tract. This study shows that a high-fat diet – not to be confused with obesity – increases a molecule on these helper cells called ST2, and increases the response of T-helper 2 to eliminate parasitic worms from the colon system. This is contrary to the popular belief that high-fat diets are harmful to health.
“We were quite surprised by what we found during this study. High-fat diets are mainly associated with increased pathology during the course of the disease. However, in the case of whipworm infection, this high-fat diet allows the T-helper cells to make the correct immune response to expel the worm,” said G Van Worthington from the Department of Biomedicine and Life Sciences at Lancaster University.
Although these findings cannot be directly translated into weight playing an active role, other studies have reported that maintaining a healthy weight can also support the body in the fight against parasites.
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