Keeping things too clean around the house could be increasing the risk of your child developing allergies. A new study published in the Journal of Allergy and
Clinical Immunology found that maintaining too high a level of hygiene and
cleanliness can actually cause newborn babies, and particularly those under one
year of age, to suffer from allergies and asthma later in life.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Maryland
looked at 467 inner-city newborns from Baltimore, Boston, New York City and St.
Louis. The babies were enrolled in the study before they were even born, and
their health was monitored throughout the course of both pregnancy and birth to
attain thorough data.
For the study, researchers collected allergen samples from
the homes of each of the babies and measured both the amounts and types of
allergens found. They then looked at incidences of allergy and asthma among the
infants during their first few years of life, comparing this data to levels of
exposure to potential allergens.
Upon analysis, the team observed lower rates of wheezing
among children at age three who were exposed to high amounts of mouse and cat
dander, as well as cockroach droppings, during their first year of life. In
other words, early exposure to these allergens helped build a tolerance in the
exposed children compared to those who were sheltered from the germs.
More than half of all children who grow up in
"clean" homes with very few germs suffer from wheezing as toddlers.
At the same time, only 17 percent of children from dirtier homes develop the
condition, illustrating the sometimes beneficial role that bacteria and other
germs can play in building strong immunity.
"The combination of both -- having the allergen
exposure and the bacterial exposure -- appeared to be the most
protective," stated Dr. Robert Wood, co-author of the study and chief of
the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Johns Hopkins.
The findings support those of earlier studies linking
exposure to outdoor pathogens -- that is, the critters and crud lurking in your
garden -- to decreased inflammation and stronger immunity. One study published
several years ago in the journal Nature Medicine, for instance, found that
being too clean can cause children to develop health problems.
Children need to spend more time outdoors getting dirty, in
other words. If they don't, their chances of health success are diminished, at
least according to science. Germs are essentially nature's vaccines, gradually
training the innate immune system how to react properly to the many foreign
substances that it will encounter throughout life.
In fact, this is exactly how the body is supposed to build
immunity -- through natural exposure to things during early immune development.
The chemical vaccines peddled by the pharmaceutical industry mimic this process
to some degree, but as we've pointed out in previous articles, they bypass the
innate immune system and elicit an unnatural and oftentimes damaging immune
response.
"[T]he route of entry [for vaccines] is different
[from] a naturally occurring disease," explains the Vaccine Awareness
Network. "Most natural diseases would enter through the mouth or the nasal
cavity, not the skin.
"Vaccination breaks the skin with a needle and injects
foreign matter into the blood supply.
"This bypasses the skin's role in immune function, as
well as the tonsils, the mucous membranes, and so on."
What does all this have to do with germ exposure? The answer
is simple: Germs and bacteria are meant to be encountered naturally, and
avoiding them can leave the body more susceptible to disease.
Sue Taylor
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