Think of these little critters not as a total gross-out, but as miniature surgeons. That’s right, they are making a medical comeback. These wiggly little worms are being used by wound-cure clinics around the country. They are trying them on the sickest patients after high-tech treatments fail. These little buggers are specializing in cleaning out wounds that just won’t heal. This type of therapy has been around since the early 1990s. And you wanna know something? They’re FDA approved. They are the first live animals to win such approval—as a medical device to clean out wounds. Say what? Maggots remove dead tissue that impedes healing by a process called chewing. Gross you say? Maybe, but research shows that in the 2 to 3 days that they live in the wound, they produce substances that kill bacteria and stimulate healthy tissue to grow. Amazing, eh? It is estimated that 1 in 50 wound care patients are given maggots to help heal their problem areas.

The medicinal quality of maggots has been known for a long time. It was noted by Civil War surgeons, that soldiers whose wounds were infested with maggots seemed to fare better at healing than those that did not. Even in the 1930s, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon’s research included routine maggot therapy. Then antibiotics come along and the little creatures were relegated to the back shelf. But they are on their way back. A maggot farm (the first in the country) harvests maggots for medical use. They are the only company currently in this business. The fly larvae are sterilized (radiated), packed up in containers and shipped to hospitals ready to use. A study showed that 80 percent of maggot-treated wounds had all the dead tissue removed, compared to 48 percent of wounds that used surgery to excise the tissue.

Wound size determines how many to use and how many cycles to use. Once they get "fattened up," they are removed and replaced with new larvae to start the chewing process again, till the wound is free of dead debris. It may take many cycles to clean a wound. Typical cost is a few hundred dollars. The maggot therapy has become quite popular with people who suffer diabetic ulcers. Still, it takes work to convince people.

What a year for wormlike critters, too. In June, the FDA approved leeches. These bloodsuckers help surgeons save severed body parts by removing pooled blood and restoring circulation. And this past spring, researchers reported early evidence that drinking whipworm eggs, which cause a temporary harmless infection, might soothe inflammatory bowel disease by diverting the overactive immune reaction that causes it. That’s more yuck for your buck.

And now here’s some news you could use. According to researchers, high-dose multivitamins that cost $15 annually can be a cost-effective way to delay the progression of HIV into AIDS. No kidding! And taking these vitamins could also delay the initiation of expensive anti-retroviral therapy. Seems a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health of 1,078 HIV positive pregnant women in Tanzania showed that high doses of Vitamin B Complex and Vitamin C and E were more effective than placebos or Vitamin A in delaying the onset and controlling symptoms.

Still more news you could use.... Researchers from the US Department of Agriculture have calculated the antioxidant content of more than 100 common foods, including vegetables, fresh and dried fruits, nuts, spices, breads, snacks, cereals, and baby foods. Antioxidants are chemicals that gobble up damaging free radicals—oxygen molecules that can be thought of as the cellular "rust" associated with aging, the development of cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.

The top 10 foods that pack the most antioxidants per serving are: 1) small red beans, 2) wild blueberries, 3) red kidney beans, 4) pinto beans, 5) cultivated blueberries, 6) cranberries, 7) cooked artichoke hearts, 8) blackberries, 9) prunes, and 10) raspberries. Also listed were strawberries, Red Delicious apples, Granny Smith apples, pecans, and sweet cherries. The nut list had pecans, walnuts, and hazelnuts as the top three. The highest concentration of antioxidants found in herbs and spices listed cloves, cinnamon, tumeric, and oregano as the top picks. Hopefully you can use these items on your grocery list to a more healthful lifestyle.

See you at the beach.