First, let me say, that if you are genetically dispositioned to have allergies, I’m not sure my theory can help you. So sorry.
My theory: If you allow children to live in an environment that is NOT germ-free, then their immune systems have the opportunity to grow and be strenthened. If the growth of their immune systems is stunted by anti-bacterial soap and hand sanitizers, then when a particle of dust, or a strand of cat hair laden with cat-saliva enters the scene, the immune system, being out of practice, over-reacts and the body goes hay-wire.
(My preference for words like “hay-wire” may be why I don’t write for medical journals.)
However, I do not believe we should live a filthy, soap-free existence. I think we have to maintain a healthy balance between cleanliness and sterilization. I don’t think it does our kids any good to NOT wash our hands after changing a dirty diaper. Especially if we then proceed to make their lunch. We still need soap.
(Maybe if we didn’t live 98% of our lives shut inside stuffy buildings where the sun’s natural anti-bacterial rays cannot penetrate we wouldn’t need as much soap.)
Anyway, that’s just my theory and I was wondering if anyone else has these same thoughts? Have there been any studies on the relationship between our culture’s current anti-bacterial madness and the rise of allergies?
I agree with your theory. I once read about a study that showed that the more often (like every day) that a child was bathed the more likely to have asthma. Whew, I was glad I read that, because it instantly let me off the hook. Now when my kids are dirty or I’ve gone too long without bathing them, I just tell myself: It’s for thier health!
They actually have done studies that show that kids growing up on farms where they have contact with animals have fewer allergies than city kids. I am sure that being out in a germy and less polluted environment helps build their immune system.
I agree. My kids got DIRTY when they were little. We had very little cold/flu type sicknesses. My cousin’s children couldn’t enter a building without picking up a cold/flu. Hers were always spotless. She used only anti-bacterial products.
For those genetically pre-disposed to allergies, I have heard if you use honey from local bee keepers, your body will naturally become more resistant to allergens in your area.
I agree that too much sterilization is not good for the body. But I am not sure where to draw the line. I guess that is the problem with just about everything in life- too little is bad and too much is bad, but how much is just right?
I have a husband genetically dispositioned to allergies. I’m out of luck…. no peanuts or bananas in our house. And the windows stay closed during goldenrod season.
Furthermore, they’ve done studies that link developing M.S. (an auto-immune disease) later in life to growing up in a hyper-clean environment. So yeah, you need germs to develop an immune system and environmental toleration.
I don’t know about studies, but I think you’re right. We don’t use antibacterial soap anymore b/c everything says regular soap is just as good, maybe better in the long run for our health. I think that between breastfeeding past one year and and not keeping a germ-free house that my kids are better off. They’re rarely sick and don’t have allergies. I know people who don’t take their infants out at all because they’re afraid of sickness. But I always did, and I think it’s paid off.
We always took Lexi around other kids, in the nursery at church and everything. I think keeping kids completely secluded from germs is silly, they will just get sick the instant they are around someone that way! and hand sanitizer… please. Did you know children have died from licking it off their hands? Yah, the alcohol level in it is extremely high.
I totally agree with you. In Peru (South America), where I grew up, only once did I have an issue where a friend (an American) couldn’t come over because she was allergic to cats. Here in the States, I feel like of all my couple friends, at least one person is allergic (whether the husband or the wife).
Lysol commercials drive me nuts for that reason. They make you feel like a bad mother if you don’t sterilize everything. I will wipe down food surfaces and the bathroom with anti-bacterial wipes, but other than that… well let’s just say a wet rag is good enough for me. 🙂 (Though I try not to claim that too proudly, because I don’t want people to recoil at the thought of coming over to my house.)
My 10 month old is always giving hugs to our cats and dog, all the time. I don’t stress about it. I don’t stress if he eats off the floor…my floor that is, I know what goes on in my house, not others and let him be a kid. He’s only been sick once compared to my friends baby who seems to be sick fairly often. Really I’m lazy, but hey if it helps my kid’s immune system, YAY. 😉
A recently study has shown that exposure to common infections can help reduce the risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Seems sniffly noses and grubby hands might sometimes be a good thing.
Here’s a link for more details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7370773.stm
Depends on the dirt. If you live in a polluted, industrial area, you’re MORE likely to get asthma, reactive airway disease, etc. Not to mention a host of other autoimmune problems.
My mom didn’t keep a clean house, and I have terrible allergies. Oh well.
Interestingly enough, when my mother developed antibiotic resistant osteomylitis, one of the things that the infectious disease guys talked about was the preponderance of anti-bacterial products, and how we really don’t need them, and they think it’s allowing the bacteria to adapt and become resistant.
Having said that, I think the fact that there are more people with allergies has a lot to do with the fact that we are better at diagnosing it (I bet 30 years ago, you just shrugged it off) and that we live in more polluted environments, and eat more chemical stuff.
I wonder, maybe not having a clean house would help with building up immunity to things like colds and flu, but not asthma and allegies? Make sense to anyone else?
I’m totally with you on your theory. I’m really not to picky about dirt either. O.K. so maybe not ‘dirt’ in my house, no one would come over then! But I don’t sterilize everything and when I do I just use vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.
Although I do think that a lot of our environmental toxins play a big part into it to. Toxins in = allergies out. Even prenatal exposure to things like secondhand smoke can greatly affect allergies and eczema when they grow up.
Yay! Other people share my exact thoughts! That always gets me giddy. Seriously though, I totally agree.
I’m not sure about the over sterilization= allergies thing. I don’t think you can overuse good old soap and water or vinegar and baking soda. But we get into trouble with the overuse of antibotics and antibacterial chemicals mixed into everything. Not to mention all the chemicals that most Americans bring into their home each day via cleaners, personal care products and air freshener.
I do have a theory that there is a link between pesticides and GMOs and allergies. For example, peanuts are a high allergy food. Peanut crops are frequently rotated with cotton crops, the second most chemically intensive crop in the world. Likewise, soy is frequently gentically modified. Both products find their way into our food supply via conveniece foods. (Soy and peanut oils, soy lethacin, etc) We are frequently exposed to these allergens if we eat any amount of prepackaged conveinence foods.
I wish this were true for us! Unfortunately, we have one with RAD and chronic eczema, one with asthma and one with chronic facial soft tissue swelling from environmental allergies. All three have food allergies as well.
I’ve never been a sterilizing kind of Mama. When I had one in PS kindergarten, a toddler and an infant, they were all sick all the time. When I started homeschooling, they were healthier. When we joined a church with a strict policy about sick children in the nursery, they were healthier still.
The only thing that’s worked for us is allergy testing, immunotherapy (shots) and food avoidance. And I’m happy to say that as a result, for the first time in seven years, my asthmatic child is on zero medication and doing fine. The other two are a year behind him treatment-wise but they have made definite improvement in the past six months.
An interesting thing we found out is that all three children can have their allergy foods without reaction more and more as their environmental allergies are brought under control; also, it appears that artificial flavors, colorings and preservatives are more likely to cause reactions than the allergy foods themselves.
We don’t mind dirt. It’s the chlorine bleach, and air and water pollution and the chemicals in our food that make us sick!
New to your site and this is my first post. There is a paper on this…they tested pregnant women who went to farms and had babies with much lower incidents of asthma. I think it is “what doesnt kill you makes you stronger”. This works both ways. If you expose yourself to a mild dose of germs, if it doesnt kill you, your immune system will learn how to get stronger and defeat germs on its own. On the other hand, if you expose your germs to anti bacterials, whatever doesnt die will become stronger and more virulent next time around.