‘Health Influencers’ Are Now Intentionally Filling Their Bodies With Worms

The crazy part? It might actually work.

If you have a gut disorder, or know anyone with a gut disorder, you know just how upsetting it can be. Having some kinds of autoimmune issues can make the simple act of eating a minefield, with even a single bite of the wrong dish sending you into a spiral that can ruin your week — or possibly cause lasting damage to your body.

As a result, people with gut disorders are willing to try just about anything to try to fix them. One of the latest trends in this field involves not “cleansing the body of toxins,” but instead intentionally giving yourself parasites.

Yes, really.

The treatment is called “Helminthic therapy,” and it involves putting certain types of parasitic worms into your skin in the hopes that it will fix whatever is causing your autoimmune disorder.

While science is still firmly in the “don’t just fill yourself with parasites because you saw it online” camp, there is some — some! — evidence to suggest that this could prove effective in certain cases, though we still aren’t exactly sure why. There are also a host of side effects that can come along with this treatment, ranging from fatigue to fever to tumor promotion.

Still, it’s an exciting field of research that requires further study — but please, don’t just go filling yourself with worms because you saw it on the internet.