TikTokers Try Eating Papaya Seeds to Treat Parasites. Does It Work? - Verywell Health

Posted: 20 May 2021 02:52 PM PDT

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Key Takeaways

A new TikTok trend recommends people eat papaya seeds to help treat or prevent possible intestinal parasite infections.
While data is limited, experts say the seeds may actually be beneficial in treating parasites.
If you're going to eat the seeds, start small to avoid upsetting your stomach.

When we think about stomach trouble, many of us never imagine that we may have an actual parasite living in our gut. But parasites entering our gastrointestinal tract—causing some unsavory side-effects—are more common than you may think.

Parasites are living organisms that live off of another organism to survive. When you are infected with a parasite, that organism sets up its home inside of you and depends on what your body offers in order to survive.

"Most people think that parasitic infections are rare, but they're actually very common, even in the United States, even among people who've never left the country," Robin Foroutan, MS, RDN, HHC, integrative medicine dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, tells Verywell. "The idea that parasites are only a problem in underdeveloped countries is entirely flawed."

Without proper treatment, being infected with a parasite can lead to nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. While there are some tried-and-true ways to prevent parasitic infections, trendy home remedies continue to surface on social media. One of the newest parasite-combating home remedies on TikTok is eating papaya seeds.

Yes, those little black circles that are typically scooped out and tossed in the trash are now finding their way on people's spoons to get rid of parasites they may not know they have.

What Are Papaya Seeds?

Like most seeds, papaya seeds are loaded with nutrients like fiber, antioxidants, and healthy fats. And while human studies are lacking, animal and test-tube studies show that eating these seeds may improve kidney health and reduce inflammation.

Some data suggests that a potential downside to eating these little pips could be possible reduced fertility. But this effect was found in research conducted on rats given high doses of papaya seed extract.

Can Papaya Seeds Prevent Parasites?

"Papaya seeds are a traditional parasite remedy that's safe and seems to be pretty effective against certain types of parasites, though there isn't a ton of published data," Foroutan explains.

In one 2007 study published in the Journal of Medicinal Foods, 71.4% of children who were given a combination of dried papaya seeds and honey had their stool cleared of parasites compared with 0 to 15% of children who only took honey after seven days.

And in a trial conducted in school-aged children based in Kenya, a daily serving of porridge that included papaya seeds resulted in a reduction in the Ascaris lumbricoides egg count (indicating a parasitic roundworm infection) by 63.9% after two months. As an added benefit, ringworm was reduced from a 54.4% infection rate to a 34% infection rate.

"The real problem is that most stool tests for parasites are highly unreliable and the majority of them miss most infections, making parasites difficult to find," Foroutan says.

She adds that natural remedies, like using papaya seeds to combat and prevent parasitic infection, withstand the test of time and may end up being valid. Papaya seeds, after all, contain fiber, which helps pass stool and other components through the digestive tract.

What This Means For You

Eating papaya seeds, in moderation, likely won't harm you. And they may even be effective at treating intestinal parasites. But if you think you might be infected, your best bet is to seek medical treatment. Effective treatments exist and delaying treatment can cause harmful side effects like vomiting and diarrhea.

How to Include Papaya Seeds in Your Diet

Foroutan shares that there are two main ways papaya seeds are used:

Drying and grinding the seed to a powder and mixing it with water
Rinsing the whole papaya seeds and eating them with a spoon.

If you plan on eating them whole, Foroutan advises being prepared for a taste that is nothing like papaya flesh. She advises to start small—take 1 tablespoon on your first day and work your way up as your digestive system gets used to the fiber boost.

Looking at the big picture, until there is clinical data to support the use of papaya seeds to prevent parasitic infections, it may be best to save your efforts. If you're worried about a possible intestinal parasite, reach out to a doctor who can help diagnose your stomach issues.

Clemson scientist receives $1.77M NIH grant to continue research on deadly parasites - Charleston Post Courier

Posted: 26 May 2021 05:13 AM PDT

Clemson University researcher James Morris has received a four-year, $1.77 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify compounds that interfere with or prevent a group of deadly parasites from getting the nutrients they need to survive.

The research could lead to better drugs to treat or even prevent three devastating diseases that sicken, disfigure and kill millions of people worldwide, including in the United States.

Morris and a multidisciplinary team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State University and Brigham Young University will test 100,000 different molecules to see whether they interfere with the way kinetoplastid parasites consume and metabolize glucose. This simple sugar is a key source of energy.

Fatal diseases

The study will include two parasites and might impact the treatment of a third. Trypanosoma brucei causes African sleeping sickness, an illness that is fatal if left untreated. Leishmania causes a spectrum of illness, from unhealing and potentially disfiguring skin sores that have afflicted U.S. troops in the Middle East to deadly infections of the liver and spleen. While not part of this study, findings might impact the treatment ofTrypanosoma cruzi infections, which lead to Chagas disease, a disease found in the Americas that can cause life-threatening heart problems decades after the initial exposure.

The researchers will evaluate molecules that show promise as compounds for medicinal drugs.

"We have genetically engineered live parasites to make sensors. Those sensors enable us to see which parts of the pathway for nutrient uptake and distribution are working and which ones aren't when we add compounds to them," said Morris, a professor in the College of Science's Department of Genetics and Biochemistry and a researcher at Clemson's Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovation Center.

Critical metabolite

While the research might provide early leads for medicines, it will definitely help close a significant gap in understanding fundamental parasite biology. Glucose is a critical metabolite that can also regulate critical developmental pathways in parasites. But scientists' understanding of those areas is extremely limited, especially in living parasites.

"Not only are we going to find things that interfere, but because we can watch the cells in live time as they take up a nutrient and move it around the cell, we'll learn how they do that," Morris continued. "We don't know anything about that right now."

Insects transmit all three diseases included in the study.

African trypanosomiasis, transmitted by the tsetse fly, has historically been a big problem in sub-Saharan Africa. The development of some new drugs is helping to control it. "I think that if we're smart, we can manage the disease in humans. But we can't manage it in animals, and that has an impact of several billion dollars on agriculturally important animals in sub-Saharan Africa," Morris said.

The American trypanosome causes Chagas disease, which is transmitted through the feces of "kissing bugs." The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 300,000 people in the U.S. have the disease. Sandflies transmit Leishmania.

"These are called neglected tropical diseases because they are understudied. Yet, they are sneaking up on the U.S., so we better pay attention," he said. "Three hundred thousand people have what will likely be a lethal disease for them, but they tend to be people who live on the margins, so it's not front and center."

Unusual approach

Targeting multiple parasites in the same study is unusual.

"Typically, you would try to find molecules that are useful against the African trypanosome, and I've spent a lot of time in my career doing that. But with this grant, we're looking for things that might similarly affect several organisms because we're going after something fundamental. That fundamental thing is how they acquire nutrients from the host and how they move them around," Morris said.

Morris is the principal investigator for the project. Other researchers involved are BYU associate professor Ken Christiansen, who will assess the compounds against the parasites; Jennifer Golden, a medicinal chemist at the University of Wisconsin; and Karl Webovetz, the chair of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at Ohio State, who researchers Leishmania.

"After we find these things that interfere with uptake and distribution, then we're going to see if they kill parasites because they should," Morris said.

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