Here’s some excellent news for diabetes patients. A clinical trial that involves infecting humans with live hookworms has proven helpful for patients vulnerable to type 2 diabetes.

Studies have shown that with the eradication of parasite worms, the cases of human inflammatory and metabolic diseases akin to type 2 diabetes have hiked. Researchers from James Cook University, Australia, conducted the world’s first human trial to investigate the protective role of parasitic worms against metabolic disorders. Their findings suggest a considerable improvement in insulin resistance and metabolic health with hookworm infection.

There have been 40 participants identified with early warning signs of metabolic diseases akin to type 2 diabetes. They were injected with microscopic hookworm larvae.

“Participants were inoculated with either 20 or 40 infectious larvae of the human hookworm species Necator americanus or a placebo. All trial participants had risk aspects for developing heart problems and kind 2 diabetes. The trial delivered some considerable metabolic advantages to the hookworm-treated recipients, particularly those infected with 20 larvae,” Dr. Doris Pierce, who led the study, said.

After two years, the participants were offered a deworming medication or the choice to remain within the trial for one more 12 months. Those injected with 20 larvae showed a considerable drop in insulin resistance from a pre-trial level of three.0 units to simply 1.8 units inside a yr. In addition they showed an improvement in mood.

“That was an interesting remark as well, provided that much of the trial took place in the course of the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. I feel to see any improvement in mood was remarkable in itself,” Pierce said.

The study suggests using hookworms is protected and calls for further large-scale future trials.

“This early-phase JCU clinical trial provides proof of concept that infection with live hookworms is protected and appears to guide to some improvements in people’s metabolic health, which can hopefully be confirmed by larger clinical trials in the long run. Also, if we are able to learn more about what hookworms release into the body to influence metabolism we may find a way to design protein-based treatments that mimic the effect of the live worm,” added Dr. Paul Giacomin, a co-author of the paper.

Published by Medicaldaily.com