Studies show that millions of North Americans have parasites
Ever had a couch surfer that wouldn’t go away? Someone who ate your food, kept you up late, used up all the hot water and generally sucked the life out of you? The day they finally left was the happiest day of your life.
Depending on which study you read, some doctors are estimating that between 80 and 95 per cent of North Americans have digestive system surfers, intestinal tract surfers, organ surfers, bone surfers, lung surfers, skin surfers, brain surfers, eyeball surfers, muscle surfers and blood surfers.
These parasites also eat your food, keep you up late, use up your energy, and generally suck the life out of you. They’re not as easy to give the boot to as the couch variety, but with treatment you can have your body back.
A parasite, simply defined, is an organism that lives the whole or part of its existence on or in the body of a host, feeding upon the host’s food, blood or tissues.
The Department of Parasitic Diseases, a division of the U.S. based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, further classifies parasites as either parasites of the intestinal tract, blood-borne parasites, or parasites found in other sites. There are thousands of different varieties, and they can live in your body for decades.
About 30 per cent of all parasites are visible, such as head lice or tapeworms, while 70 per cent are microscopic, such as the common water-borne Giardia Lambia and Crytosporidium parasites.
Some parasites are single-celled organisms called protozoa and are almost impossible to detect without specific tests or tell-tale symptoms.
There are literally hundreds of symptoms on the list, some so general that it’s a good bet that you exhibit one or more of them. The list includes forgetfulness, slow reflexes, gas bloating, loss of appetite, yellowish face, fast heatbeat, heart pain, pain in the navel, hunger, itchy ears, itchy nose, sexual dysfunction (men), blurry or unclear vision, pain in the back and shoulders, pain in the thighs, lethargy, numb hands, burning sensation in the stomach and menstrual problems.
If you’re violently ill from food or water, parasites are usually the number one suspect. Some doctors are even linking the presence of parasites to cancer, heart disease, diminished mental health, anemia and arthritis.
Parasites try to hide from you, and need you to live in order to continue living in. Most people are surprised to find out they have a parasite, because they feel otherwise healthy.
Over the years, however, their excrement can build up in your body (whatever eats, excretes) and cause you to go into toxic shock.
Before you rush to your doctor and demand a full diagnosis, it’s important to note that the medical community has not issued its support for these studies and that many of the doctors who see parasites as a health issue of epidemic proportions appear to be selling or recommending one brand name cure or another. It’s also important to note that most of the doctors who conducted these studies are not medical doctors, but naturopaths.
The lack of unbiased or official information on this topic is almost as disturbing as the possibility of having a parasite.
At the same time it appears that nobody has done any studies to refute the evidence – estimates on the number of infected North Americans does fluctuate between one in six (17 per cent) and 95 per cent from study to study, and there is some debate over whether you can actually link the presence of parasites to specific symptoms and ailments.
Nobody has refuted the fact that at least some of us are infected with parasites, and that these parasites can lead to one or more types of medical complications. And medical science is notoriously slow in making up its mind on these types of issues – it took decades for groups like the American Medical Association and Health Canada to officially recognize the benefits of so-called alternative medical practices such as acupuncture and naturopathy.
In other words, while you should take the following information with a grain of salt, be aware that there may be some truth in it.
After practising naturopathy for 20 years, treating 20,000 patients, Dr. Ross Anderson set the whole parasite scare into motion in 1996 when he published a paper entitled Are You Clear of Parasites?
"In North America today, almost everybody is ill. If you look at your family, friends and co-workers, and question them very carefully (because so many people deny there is anything wrong with them), you will find that virtually everybody has a health challenge, many of which are significant," wrote Anderson.
"So how has the situation gotten to this point? Well, there are many factors involved, but one of the most significant is the existence of parasites in the human body. Parasites do not only occur in the Third World countries. They are in every country of the world."
Some parasites are local, but the majority migrated here and proliferated through our modern lifestyles.
Everybody travels by airplane these days, going to exotic destinations and maybe bringing a few stowaways home in their bodies or luggage. Immigration is also fairly common from the Third World to the First World.
A lot of the food we eat is imported and may contain different parasites or parasite eggs. We would never import drinking water from Mexico, for example, but we would import tomatoes grown and cleaned with Mexican water.
Parasites thrive naturally in streams and lakes, and can either migrate through the water systems or arrive there attached to humans. Drinking tap water while you’re abroad is never wise, no matter how remote you think you are.
Factory farming techniques allow parasites to travel easily from animal to animal, fish to fish, and improper handling, mistakes in quality control, and bad cooking practices can result in human consumers being infected. While meat eaters are more vulnerable than vegetarians, a single vegetable can contain as many as 15 different parasites at once.
The soil can be contaminated by parasites through bad water and animal waste. Some parasites, such as the hookworm, can travel through the skin, while others may require you to touch the ground and then your mouth.
Our pets can also transmit parasites to us through their fur, saliva, and feces. Veterinarians recommend you treat your pet for parasites twice a year to be on the safe side. Maybe we should do the same.
We can infest one another through casual or sexual contact.
Some parasites can even travel through the air, it seems, putting anyone on the same train, bus or airplane at risk.
According to Dr. Marijah McCain, "Many diseases in this country are treated without the first thought that there may be a parasitic connection. This, in my opinion, should be the first problem treated in all patients."
The problem, according to Dr. McCain is the fact that some parasites do not show up in the regular blood, saliva, urine or stool samples used to diagnose an illness. Other parasites may show up in these samples, but only when the doctor is looking for them specifically. Some food- and water-borne parasites have become so common that doctors can recognize their presence by the symptoms.
Besides, there are only tests available for up to 50 out of more than 1,000 different types of parasites, according to Dr. Anderson. "This brings the ability to clinically find parasites down to one per cent."
Rather than test yourself for each and every parasite, natural health practitioners believe you can be parasite free if you’re careful with your body and your food and undergo regular cleansings. Our unhealthy and carbohydrate heavy diets make us more susceptible to parasites, and weaken our ability to rid ourselves of these freeloaders.
Wellnet, the Canadian Internet Directory for Holistic Health, recommends that you wash your hands several times a day, especially after coming into contact with animals. You should carefully wash all fruits and poultry, have regular doctor checkups. You should also do two or three cleansings a year, such as fasts and restricted cleansing diets. Lastly, take more care in food preparation – don’t eat raw meat, and always clean and disinfect your cutting boards and implements.
There are also several herbal remedies/preventions on the market that are billed as 100 per cent effective in ridding the body of parasites. Without recommending a name brand – they’re available at most health food and vitamin stores – they have a number of ingredients that have been used for thousands of years to treat parasites.
Black Walnut Hulls contain napthoquinones, a well documented anti-parasitic herb. It generally kills worms (we can get dozens of different varieties that affect us in hundreds of different ways), and helps to maintain a healthy digestive system.
Wormwood contains essential oils that aid digestion and have a variety of anti-parasitic properties.
Pumpkin seeds contain zinc and essential fatty acids, and have been used to rid the body of many varieties of worms.
Pau D’Arco is an American herb known for its anti-infective properties. It also prevents intestinal yeast overgrowth, which makes our digestive system more appealing to parasites.
Echinacea is already well known for its abilities to promote T-cell activation to fight infections.
Barberry has been used effectively against a wide rang of microbes.
Gentian has been traditionally used to aid digestion and cleanse the body of parasites.
Garlic – which keeps lots of different organisms away in strong doses, contains Allicin – an active ingredient which is believed to provide many anti-microbial and vermifuge (worm killing) benefits.
Olive Leaf is also called Nature’s Antibiotic. It contains oleuropein, which contains components valuable for treating infectious and degenerative conditions. Elenolic acid, the active ingredient in oleuropein, is believed to work against a wide range of pathogenic organisms including yeasts and parasites.
Cloves contain ani-parasitic properties as well as germicidal agents which help soothe the digestive system.
Chamomile has been used for decades to aid digestion and there is evidence that it is an effective anti-inflammatory.
Thyme also contains napthoquinones, but also works as an antioxidant cleaning the blood of toxins and other free radicals.
Other anti-parasitic formulas include onions, cranberry juice, carrots, elecampagne root, mugwort, spearmint, tumeric, ginger, grapefruit seed extract, Acidophilus, and slippery elm.
To read Dr. Anderson’s paper, Are You Clear of Parasites? visit www.awarenessherbs.com/aycop.htm. More information on parasites is available at Health Canada (www.hc-sc.gc.ca) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov).
