Dietary fiber emerges as key factor in helminth therapy effectiveness

For most of human history, intestinal parasites were quiet companions in the human gut — until modern sanitation swept them away, and autoimmune disease quietly rose in their absence. Now, researchers at the Czech Academy of Sciences have published findings in Nature Communications suggesting that the inconsistent results of helminth therapy, the deliberate reintroduction of therapeutic worms, may hinge on something as humble as dietary fiber. When the gut is nourished with fiber, the worms thrive and calm the immune system; when it is not, they retreat into dormancy, offering nothing. The stu