Practitioner Question of the Month – January 2019

Should I Test Zonulin in My Patients?

Of course, a common question among GI-minded providers is ‘should I test zonulin in my patients’. Please see the research section of this issue for my answer to this question.

Helminth Therapy – Is It Effective?

I’ve had a chance to monitor a handful of patients who were performing self-directed helminth therapy. Long enough has passed for a thorough assessment window in these patients. What have I seen? Overall, nothing impressive. That said there are a few important distinctions I should draw, all of which are likely decreasing the potential of observing benefit:

• I am reserving helminths for somewhat non-responsive patients, meaning
  • I am using in patients who have already undergone many treatments
• I am not performing any formal pre/post assessment, rather this is my ‘sense’ of the benefit acheived

I suspect that helminths can help, however, I also suspect that for most patients’ helminths may not be appreciably more effective than other tools I use in my GI-algorithm; various diet, probiotics, Habx, gut repair nutrients, immunoglobulins, immunomodulators, elemental diets, etc… I remain open and hope there is something substantial to offer patients here in the near future.

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