Parasite diet

Factual Questions
1

I was taking a walk today when I began thinking of a revolutionary new diet - the parasite diet. Specifically, the pinworm and/or roundworm diet.

This is my thinking. Say, someone wants to lose a few pounds–why not have them ingest pinworm eggs, let the pinworms hatch and do their magic for a few weeks, then have the person ingest anti-pinworm medication to kill them off before they get out of control. There’s a good 5-10 pounds lost right there, perhaps even more if they are lucky.

How feasible is that? Can the negative effects of pinworms really be that much worse than the side-effects of all the synthetic diet pills people are shoving into their faces these days?

2

Back in the 50s, it was rumored that a popular weight-loss capsule contained a tapeworm. I don’t know whether there was any truth to it, probably not.

3

Cecil on Tapeworms

But you were asking about pinworms, so I know it isn’t exactly an answer.

4

Uh, pinworms exit the rectum at night to lay eggs, and they itch. A lot. I don’t believe they take much nutrition away from the host, but I wouldn’t wish them upon anybody. Even if they helped people get skinny, I doubt people really would be all that enthusiastic about a parasite they can SEE every night. The draw of the tapeworm idea is at least in part that it’s “invisible” and otherwise innocuous to the host.

Gross.