Parasite "Cleanses": Are We Riddled With Worms Or Is This Just The Latest Bogus Fad?

Had a bit of an iffy belly lately? Maybe you feel hungry and tired all the time, or you just can’t seem to stop farting. These could be signs of all sorts of things – like staying out late a lot and eating handfuls of cheese even though you’re intolerant to dairy. Fall onto the wrong side of the Internet, however, and you might just wind up being told you’re packed with parasites. The alleged solution? A “parasite cleanse”.

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What are parasites?

Parasites are organisms that live on or within a host organism, getting the nutrients they need to survive from the host and causing it harm in the process. There are lots of different parasites that can use humans as a host, and they’re classed into three main groups.

There are ectoparasites, which inhabit the outer surface of their hosts. That’s not the type of parasite we’ll be talking about for the rest of this article, but includes blood-sucking arthropods like ticks and fleas, as well as botfly larvae.

Then there are the protozoans, a group of microscopic, single-celled organisms that includes Plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria, and Giardia. The third and final group is the helminths – better known as the worms. This is the gang that includes tapeworms and roundworms.

What is a parasite cleanse?

Parasite cleanses are typically based on the idea that someone has an intestinal parasite infection – so worms or protozoa living it up in your gut. Symptoms of an infection like this can include abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, gas, nausea, vomiting, and anal itching. Doesn’t that just sound like a bundle of fun?

Some claim that the way to get rid of such an infection is to “cleanse” the gut using dietary supplements that are supposedly anti-parasitic, often in combination with a strict diet plan. A commonly recommended supplement is the herbaceous plant wormwood (which is also a key ingredient of absinthe), and suggested diets usually involve cutting out particular food groups to “starve” the parasites.

Do I need to do a parasite cleanse?

The simple answer to whether or not someone needs to do a parasite cleanse? No.

The first reason for that is that the symptoms of a parasitic infection are also the same symptoms seen in a bunch of other infections and conditions – so, even if a parasite cleanse actually worked (we’ll get onto that in a second), it would be pointless to do one when parasites might not actually be the problem.

"It's unlikely that the average person is walking around with active parasites in their gut," said gastroenterologist Dr Peter Mannon in a Nebraska Medicine article. "I would question the usefulness of these parasite cleanses."

If someone suspects that they might have a parasitic infection, the best course of action is to see a doctor. They’ll typically review your symptoms, your travel history, what you’ve been eating and drinking, and then carry out lab testing on blood and stool samples.

Say an official diagnosis is given; dietary supplements and a specific diet plan aren’t going to get rid of the little blighters. Take wormwood, for example. It’s long been used as a herbal remedy for all kinds of ills, and some research suggests that it does in fact have antiparasitic properties – but there’s a catch. The vast majority of that research has been carried out using in vitro testing (meaning outside of a living organism), or in non-human animals, meaning the results won’t necessarily be the same as humans.

Then there’s one of the biggest issues surrounding dietary supplements – they don’t have to get Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval before being put on the market. That means they won’t necessarily have been through the same rigorous level of testing, and as a result, there’s no guarantee that they’re safe, effective, or contain what they say they do, nor how they might interact with medications you might be taking.

As for a “parasite cleansing diet” – well, there’s no evidence to suggest that any diet plan is going to solve the problem. 

Once diagnosed, a doctor will generally recommend treating an infection with antiparasitic drugs, which can paralyze the parasites, stop them from growing, kill the parasite itself, or kill the parasite’s eggs. Some of these drugs are so effective that they only require one dose.

That sounds a lot easier than having to spend a bunch of money on supplements that won’t work and not eating all the foods you like.

All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text, images, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current.

The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.