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Eat Worms - Feel Better: "Every three weeks Anna goes to Dr Weinstock's clinic and takes a drink full of worm eggs.

But Anna reckons it is worth it: 'I don't really think of them as being alive I guess, it's almost just like taking a pill or something.

'I try not to think of them as disgusting or anything like that. And I couldn't live the way I was living. I was desperate to try anything. I just wanted to get well'.

The worms grow inside her gut and then pass out after a few weeks, but as a result of having these worms in her gut, her ulcerative colitis is in remission - she doesn't suffer from any of the symptoms any more.

Dr Weinstock reckons that's because we've evolved with worms and actually need them.

Before gut worms were eradicated in the West 50 or so years ago allergies - caused by the overreaction of the immune system - were virtually unheard of, now in the UK one third of us suffers from some sort of allergy.

So scientists are looking to see if there's a connection between gut worms and allergies, they are wondering if gut worms can somehow damp down the immune system to make it easier for them to live in the intestine without coming under attack.

He said: 'Worms require humans to survive. In essence the worms are part of us and it's possible that we've become interdependent and removing worms has resulted in an imbalance to our immune systems.

'People have what I consider an irrational fear of worms. Nobody wants to go to the toilet and look into the toilet and see something wiggle'"

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