The fact is, when we eat our food it is often contaminated with organisms which we rather wish that it wasn't. That salad you ate yesterday (or was it the burger?) - one of them could easily have brought along a "friend".

OK now, don't get disgusted. I know it's rather unappealing to think about, but it's true nevertheless.

So should we all become paranoid about parasites in our food? No, that's not my point.

But my purpose behind this article IS this: A healthy intestine will repel these organisms from getting a foothold in one's system and simply excrete them from one's system via a bowel movement.

Therefore, all we really have to be concerned with is ensuring that we have healthy intestines.

What are the signs of an unhealthy, or permeable, intestine? There are many. To name a few: bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, fatigue, pain, eczema, psoriasis, skin rashes, arthritis, stomach, or abdomen discomfort.

Now you might notice that while diarrhea was on that list, it wasn't the only symptom mentioned. Traditional medical doctors often argue that unless you have chronic diarrhea you don't have to worry about having a parasite. That is definitely not accurate as proven by many clinical trials where very nasty parasites have been diagnosed in patients with no diarrhea.

The chronology appears to be this: A patient develops (or is born with) a food allergy which causes damage to the integrity of the small intestine. This damaged small intestine, when exposed to a parasite, is not able to repel it, and the organism gets a strong foothold in the small intestine, further damaging it.

Putting the cart before the horse in diagnosis is often the problem with patients suspicious that they have parasites or other organisms. In other words, you are looking for the parasite before you've healed the small intestine.

Often, diagnosis of these organisms is thwarted by the fact that they burrow themselves deeply into the tissues of the damaged small intestine, making detection nearly impossible.

The key to a correct diagnosis and treatment has several key points:

1. The food allergy must be detected and eliminated from the diet so that healing of the small intestine can take place. A gluten (gliadin) intolerance is often a major player in the damage experienced by the small intestine. BioHealth offers the #308 test which can readily detect gluten intolerance.

2. Once some healing of the small intestine has occurred (this can take 4 to 6 months), you then must have an accurate way of detecting the presence of the organisms. Traditional parasite tests involve a single stool sample which is evaluated for about 2 to 3 different parasites only.

These tests "miss the boat" in several major areas. They only use one stool sample which can easily miss the presence of a parasite since it has a life cycle and is only detectable in its virulent stage at certain times of its life cycle. The test also falls short in only looking for a limited number of organisms when there are many more which can cause problems. And finally, the test only can distinguish the adult organisms, not their eggs. Why is this last point important? Because the adults lay eggs shortly before the end of their life cycle and there follows a dormant period when the eggs have not yet hatched and the adults have died off. The eggs obviously will hatch and become adults. So an ability to detect the eggs can make an accurate diagnosis even when there are no active adults to be detected.

BioHealth diagnostics offers two excellent tests to evaluate the presence of parasites, bacteria, and yeast. Their stool analysis (test #401) requires 4 different samples and is able to detect the presence of eggs as well as adults. Their blood test (#352) detects parasites which may be more difficult to detect in stool. Finally, BioHealth also offers a blood test for yeast detection (#350) which is outstanding in evaluating if yeast is present and if so, determines whether it is in a virulent form which is a serious health hazard or not.

3. You must have a protocol for treatment that actually works. Some parasites, even when diagnosed, are then treated with drugs which are harsh on the liver and have only a 65% cure rate. The doctors affiliated with BioHealth diagnostics have worked hard to determine the safest and most effective protocols to assure elimination of the organisms.

4. There must be a good recolonization program to repopulate the intestines with the good bacteria which are very important in preventing future infection. This program is implemented once the organism has been eliminated with a medication.

5. You need to know when to re-test to ensure that the organism was indeed eliminated. This is a very vital point and one that shouldn't be forgotten.

While this may not have been the easiest subject to read about I can tell you that it is extremely important. In my practice, the ability to detect and treat parasites successfully has been a critical part in my ability to achieve health in otherwise unhealthy, unhappy patients.

Please let me know if I can answer any further questions you may have. You can contact me at DrVikkiP@aol.com or at my office 408-733-0400.