Sometimes medical developments start with the weirdest ideas. Like the idea that eating worms can help if you have inflammatory bowel disease.
But the worm theory does seem have to some potential says Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Scientist Derek McKay.
"Very thought provoking, I think stimulated quite a bit of research. I think this worm could be delivered as a therapy and given to patients."
A small American study showed that when people with colitis were given a dose of microscopic worm eggs in Gatorade, they noticed an improvement, but it was a preliminary study.
Here's the theory: the tape worms generate an immune response. That, in turn, reduces the inflammation in the bowels that causes patient's problems in the first place.
Of course the thought of eating worms seems unappetizing, even when McKay tries his best to make them sound palatable.
"The one we use is a tape worm with no hooks, no teeth. It does no actual damage to the intestine."
McKay and his team want to understand what the worms are doing and then translate that into a treatment patients can stomach.
This new worm approach comes out of something called the Hygiene Hypothesis that suggests we have become so clean, our bodies aren't functioning properly.
