THE BIOME BUZZ
BUGS AND WORMS AND OTHER GREAT STUFF
Category: Macrobiome
Helminths in the Lay Press: A Few Interesting Tidbits
A couple of articles about helminths have appeared recently in the lay press that struck me for various reasons. While it’s always great to see helminth therapy getting good press, unfortunately, there tends to be misinformation printed that can often do more harm than…
2018: My Top 10 List of Favorite Stories!
My longer-time readers know that, as we close out another year, I like to take a look back at some of my favorite research stories from these past 12 months. So here it is…Judy’s “the best of 2018” top 10 list, in chronological order:…
Helminths and Autism: The Only Clinical Study
From the earliest days of this blog, I have talked about the too-often-ignored (and non-existent-in-most-people) macrobiome. Over the last few years, I’ve covered research papers that demonstrate over and over that helminths – intestinal worms, which are the predominant organisms of the mammalian macrobiome…
Helminths and Allergies: Another Look at an Immigrant Population
In my last post, I talked about how microbiome depletion results from immigrating to the United States (and subsequent dietary changes), which leads to obesity and metabolic diseases. I promised to tell you more about immigrant studies on biome depletion so today I am…
The Potential Anti-Cancer Power of “Parasites”
I have read the vast majority of papers ever written on the subject of therapeutic helminths, and cannot, for the life of me, remember reading one that specifically addresses their potential anti-cancer effects. I knew that helminths’ inflammation-modulating effect should theoretically be highly beneficial…
High on Helminths!
I just stumbled across beyond-cool research which unveils a whole new way helminths may work to reduce inflammation. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have discovered that helminths not only manipulate the endocannabinoid system of their hosts, but the organisms themselves produce natural…
Helminth Exposure and Autoimmune Disease: A Psychic Vision
I got a wonderful email this past Friday, and have been very much looking forward to sharing it with you all this week. A friend from the helminthic therapy world sent me a “Happy Anniversary” message, celebrating the 50th year since the publication of…
Do Our Helminths Make Us Human?
I have written before about the work of Dr. Jamie Lorimer, of Oxford University. I was very excited yesterday when a friend sent me his newest paper, which examines the history of the helminth/human relationship[i] A few favorite parts to share with you: When…
Obesity and the Microbiome: Narrowing in on the Culprits
An interesting study just came out of the University of Chicago, looking at how specific bacteria in the small intestine affect the absorption of fat from the diet.[i] The work should, in the long term, have huge implications for the treatment of obesity and…
Cancer
Warning: I am not a ray of sunshine today. Yesterday, I was at the funeral of my very loved aunt, who just died of cancer. I’ve also lost a grandmother and 3 friends to cancer (leukemia, brain, and liver)…and have had multiple scares with…
