Family pets make for healthier children with less allergies

According to a new study, children who grow up in families that include a dog, or to a lesser extent a cat, are less likely to suffer infections, allergies, asthma, and other common childhood ailments. Published in the journal Pediatrics, the new research highlights the importance of early exposure among children to germs, dirt, and other forms of "uncleanliness" for the purpose of building strong immunity.

For their study, researchers from Kuopio University Hospital in Finland evaluated nearly 400 infants born at the hospital between September 2002 and May 2005. The team asked parents of these children to fill out questionnaires about their children's health from the time these children were born until they reached their first birthdays.

The questionnaire, which was structured more in the form of a daily diary, kept tracks of the number of infections the children developed, as well as how often they experienced things like fevers, runny noses, coughs, and wheezing. The frequency of these and other conditions was then analyzed in light of whether or not the children had a dog or cat living at home with them.

Overall, 35 percent of the children evaluated spent a majority of their first year of life in regular contact with a pet dog, while 24 percent lived in direct contact with a cat. Compared to children who lived with no pets at home, those who lived with a dog were more than 31 percent healthier during any given week than those who did not live with a dog, based on the parents' diary reports.

Children living in families with dogs were also 44 percent less likely to develop inner ear infections, and 29 percent less likely to need antibiotic drugs, than children living in families without dogs. Children living with dogs, in fact, were the least likely of all children, including those living with cats, to develop any sickness at all, and were the healthiest among all the children.

"These results suggest that dog contacts may have a protective effect on respiratory tract infections during the first year of life," wrote lead author Eija Bergroth of Kuopio University Hospital, concerning her and her team's findings. "Our findings support the theory that during the first year of life, animal contacts are important, possibly leading to better resistance to infectious respiratory illnesses during childhood."

A 2011 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) uncovered similar findings among children living on farms. It appears as though children exposed to a variety of unique germs and microbes in the family-farm environment develop stronger immunity, and are thus far healthier, than children living in more "sanitary," urban environments.

Sue Taylor

Allergist

Allergy Testing and Allergy Therapy

The Allergy Co and Ottawa Holistic Wellness

Reference: Naturalnews.com

Keeping your house to clean increases risk of childhood allergies

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

Allergist

Allergy Testing and Allergy Therapy

The Allergy Co and Ottawa Holistic Wellness

Reference: NaturalNews.com

Living with Childhood Food Allergies - Documentary

The documentary "I’m Not Nuts: Living With Food Allergies", sheds some light on this rising issue of food allergies through interviews with families that are directly affected.

Food allergies were a rarity just 40 or 50 years ago, but today an estimated one out of every 13 children has a food allergy -- and the incidence is increasing.

Food allergies can be difficult to detect in young children who are unable to communicate their symptoms; unexplained crying, diarrhea or rash can be common signs.

There are likely genetic and environmental factors triggering the rise in food allergies; genetic modification, food additives, and abnormal gut flora are some potential culprits discussed.

Sue Taylor

Allergist

Allergy Testing and Allergy Therapy

The Allergy Co and Ottawa Holistic Wellness

Reference: Mercola.com