Orange Power: How Quercetin Fights Worms

Worms are a big problem. They cause sickness and cost a lot of money. The usual medicines, like albendazole and ivermectin, are not working as well as they used to. This is because worms are getting resistant. So, scientists are looking for new ways to fight them. One group of scientists decided to check out flavonoids. These are natural compounds found in plants, especially in citrus fruits like oranges. They wanted to see if these flavonoids could help against worms. They tested five different flavonoids. Quercetin stood out as the most effective. They tested quercetin on two types of worms. One was a free-living worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. The other was a parasitic worm called Trichinella spiralis. Quercetin worked well against both types. It even worked against worms that were resistant to the usual medicines.The scientists also checked if quercetin was safe. They tested it on human cells and found that it did not cause much harm. This is good news because it means quercetin could be safe for humans. But how does quercetin work? The scientists used special tools to find out. They looked at the worms under a microscope and also studied their metabolism. They found that quercetin did not change the worms' appearance much. But it did mess up their metabolism big time. It affected how the worms make energy, how they handle fats, and how their mitochondria work. This is important because it shows that quercetin works differently from the usual worm medicines. It attacks the worms' metabolism instead of just killing them directly. This could make it a good candidate for new worm medicines.