A high-fat diet enables the immune system to eliminate parasitic worms, which are the leading cause of death and illness in developing countries. Reported by Lancaster University.
In total, about 1 billion people in the world suffer from parasitic worms and they mostly live in developing countries. One of the most irritating parasites is the whipworm, a small roundworm that attaches itself to the wall of the large intestine and feeds on blood.
Researchers at Lancaster University found that a high-fat diet allows the body to combat this problem. The study was carried out on infected mice. Trichuris muris, a close relative of the human whipworm. Previously, scientists had found that the immune response to repel worms depends on white blood cells called T-helper 2 cells, which are specialized to eliminate gastrointestinal parasites.
Now the experiment has confirmed that a high-fat diet increases the number of ST2 molecules on T-helper cells, which contributes to an increased response on their part. This leads to the elimination of the parasite from the body. “We were quite surprised by what we found in this study. High-fat diets are mainly associated with increased pathology during disease. However, in the case of whipworm infection, a high-fat diet allows T-helper cells to develop the correct immune response to repel the worm,” explain the authors. .
But scientists cannot recommend this diet as a universal parasite control measure. For example, expelling parasites of another species, on the contrary, contributes to weight loss.
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