Wait, why is everyone online suddenly doing parasite cleanses?

I, like any woman who enjoys a peruse through TikTok, have thoroughly enjoyed the recent trend of people sharing unorthodox and unhinged beauty tips that changed their lives for the better.

I'm talking fake tan as a country and wearing a sleep mask with your eyelashes curled up in lieu of a lash lift (genius).

That is, until these tips turned into… health misinformation.

Recently, I've noticed an influx of people touting "parasite cleanses" as life-changing hacks that have healed their gut issues, cleared their skin and returned energy and life back to their bodies. Intrigued, I tried to look more into parasite cleanses (what are they? Do we actually have parasites?) and was surprised to find that, despite their popularity, they seem to be an elusive concept.

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Video upon video shows skinny "low-tox life" influencers doing parasite cleanses to stop bloating, gas, dull skin and fatigue — but none of them seem to do it the same.

Some people fast, others take vitamin supplements, charcoal pills and even horse dewormers. There is simply no coherence on what the hell a parasite cleanse is. As I looked more into it (and the products sold to help with parasitic cleanses), things became even more fishy — so I talked to some experts.

Here's what two nutritionists have to say about it.

What is a parasite cleanse?

"Parasitic cleanse" is not a medical term, and if you search for an exact definition of what a parasite cleanse is, you'll struggle to find one.

"We, as medical professionals, wouldn't consider something being a parasite cleanse legitimate," KIC's dietitian and nutritionist, Olivia Morrison, told Mamamia.

"It's some type of protocol that ranges a lot depending on the influencer or the person telling you to do it, and it's essentially to eliminate and excrete parasites from the colon. Some people say you can sweat them out, and they can come out of the skin. Others say you can eliminate them via urine as well, but it's a kind of umbrella term for certain dietary practices."

Morrison noted that the vagueness of the term is part of its appeal. It makes it easier for people to sell them to us, since they can tailor the symptoms and cures to their body and audience. However, she emphasised that if you did have parasites, you wouldn't be able to see them with your naked eye in your stool, or in the bucket of vinegar you've been soaking your feet in.

Dr Emma Beckett, a food and nutrition scientist and author, told Mamamia that the term "parasite cleanse" sounds medical to give it scientific legitimacy, but if you actually ask any of the people touting it to name a parasite or define inflammation, they "don't know and can't answer that question".

"That vagueness is part of how these hype trends take hold — because it's easy for people to go, 'Oh, yeah, that could explain this,' because they don't actually look at the details," she told Mamamia.

"It's very frustrating."

How common are parasite infections?

Harmful parasitic infections are rare in wealthy and developed countries like Australia, where we have clean drinking water and good sanitation services.

Dr Beckett said that while you might come across parasitic infections in certain tropical countries, in countries like Australia they are extremely uncommon.

"You hear horror stories about people who had a worm for 10 years, [but influencers are] not talking about these horrible, sudden life-changing parasitic infections that happen in unsanitary or tropical environments," she said.

"They're suggesting that we all have these underlying parasitic infections that are doing this low-grade inflammation that's then causing all our other problems. There's simply no evidence that that's something that's occurring, and there's no evidence that that's something that even needs to be fixed."

Dr Beckett also noted that using the term "parasite" is like using the term "bacteria" — it's super vague since there are lots of different types that affect us in different ways, and which live in different parts of our bodies and our environments. A gut parasite would affect us very differently to, say, a skin parasite.

What are the dangers of doing a parasite cleanse?

Parasite cleanses can include restrictive eating and diet fads like long-term fasting and juice cleanses, but they can also include a range of medications, supplements and dubious pills that can be dangerous to ingest. Horse dewormers and drinkable bleach are just some of the products marketed as parasite cleansers. All of them can severely hurt you, and can even be fatal.

"Do not take drugs intended for animals. For humans there are huge risks for things like liver damage, and interactions with your other medications," Dr Beckett warned.

"There are cases of people ordering supplements on the internet, things like green tea supplements, and people literally dying from the liver effects of these products. I cannot stress enough how much I do not recommend ordering supplements or medications from random sources on the Internet."

There's a reason you can't buy these items from the chemist and have to go to some random person's storefront — they aren't TGA approved, there's no quality control or regulation, and this then makes it hard for doctors to track what exactly was ingested if someone ends up needing medical help.

Charcoal pills are a popular staple of parasite cleanses, especially because they seem harmless and you can acquire them easily from your local shops. They're commonly taken overseas to help when you get sick from travellers' diarrhea. However, even these can be dangerous when misused.

"Charcoal can have interactions with the medications you're taking. So if you're taking an antidepressant or you're taking a birth control pill, those are very important medications that we want to be absorbed correctly and uniformly and work in our bodies," Dr Beckett explained.

"It can also impact nutrient absorption as well, so you could end up malnourished."

What are the symptoms of harbouring a real parasite?

"If you had a parasite, really common symptoms would be anaemia, blood in your stool, vomiting and an itchy bum," Morrison said.

"The ones online are generally not things that you would see in a parasitic infection. They're more aligned with an undiagnosed digestive issue or eating style, and these symptoms are really quite wishy washy as well, in terms of they can cross over heaps of different types of diagnoses."

Dr Beckett said that a lot of the symptoms touted online as signs of a parasite are actually just normal bodily functions that have been "pathologised" by toxic wellness culture.

"If you had an actual parasitic infection, you might be seeing things like skin markings, or you might be seeing things like severe fever and fatigue and diarrhea and vomiting, or you could be seeing cognitive changes," she explained.

"Those nondescript gastrointestinal symptoms that these people are all talking about on TikTok, 'Oh, you've got bloating, therefore there's something wrong with you, or you've got urgent bowel movements, therefore there's something wrong with you…'

"There's this idea that the human body, particularly women, should have perfect flat stomachs and our bowel movements aren't a thing that anyone wants to talk about. But it's normal to be gassy. It's normal to get bloated."

Why are parasite cleanses so popular when they don't work?

You could probably ask this question about a lot of health misinformation, but Morrison believes that the rise in parasite cleanses coincides with skinny being back in, a pressure to lose weight, and the fear-mongering product sellers create to get you to buy their "cures".

"This does come up cyclically, from what I see, at least once a year, predominantly since 2020," she told me.

"I find these cleanses, particularly ones that have some form of laxative effect or elongated fast or both, often kick up just before summer in the US or just after a celebration, whether it's religious or not, which consumes a fair bit of food, so you might find there's a bit of weight gain or something going on here."

She noted that the intersection of parasite cleanses and an obsession with bloating and wanting to clear the colon can also be linked to disordered eating.

"The most common presenting problems for undiagnosed disordered eating individuals is IBS and digestive issues," she explained.

"There's a huge connection between this, any type of fasting diet, juice cleanses, parasite cleanses, etc., and undiagnosed eating disorders in Australia. We know about it and we cross-check it when we're treating people in this criteria."

So, to summarise: if you have stomach problems, go to a doctor.

Feature image: Shani Grimmond/Natalie Negrotti.

If this article has brought up any issues for you, you can contact The Butterfly Foundation on their 24/7 helpline on 1800 33 46 73. For more information, click here.