Some cockroach poop, mouse dander is alright.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Parents have long looked for the secret to having the happiest, healthiest child, but a new study may have finally found the answer to that riddle in the most unlikely of places: the dirt.
That’s right – a new study being published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology says that the best way to ensure a child will not suffer from allergies and other such ailments is to have them muck around in the dirt and grime a bit when they’re babies.
“We’re not promoting bringing rodents and cockroaches into the home, but this data does suggest that being too clean may not be good,” said Dr. Robert Wood, chief of the division of allergy and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, who is a co-author of the study.
The study found that children who were not exposed to allergens and dirt as much as others were more predisposed to wheezing, coughing, and so on. A total of 467 children were monitored for three years, and children who had exposure to mouse and cat dander, and even things like cockroach droppings, had far more resistance to allergies.
The thinking behind this is simple: if a baby is sheltered too much, and kept away from all potential allergens and other bacteria, their bodies will become more susceptible to being affected by these later in life. It’s the same thinking behind getting an immunization shot – a body that has been introduced to a small amount of a disease is better able to recognize it, and defend against it later.
But another prevailing theory for the “dirty baby” technique is something called the “hygiene hypothesis,” which was formed from studies that saw farm children become far less susceptible to allergies, and ailments like asthma or bronchitis, despite living in far worse conditions than their more urban counterparts.
Speaking to NBC News, Dr. Marcia Garcia Lloret, an assistant clinical professor of pediatric allergy and immunology at the Mattel Children’s Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles, explained that a cleaner environment means that the human immune system will inevitably become less able to fight bacteria and parasites, making such afflictions even more difficult to treat later in life.
For now, the study’s authors and scientists are not prescribing a specific method for parents – in other words, don’t stuff your baby’s face in pet fur and droppings to build up their immune systems – but the important takeaway is that keeping your baby completely sterilized might not really be the best way to protect them and keep them healthy for life.