Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but it also appears to be the cause of
the significant increase in allergies, asthma, eczema, and autoimmune
conditions. A University of Montreal study finds that the more we attempt to
clean up our child’s environment, the more he or she is at risk for
developing allergies or an immune problem.
The increase in asthma is alarming. Between 1980 and 1994 alone, the
prevalence of asthma increased 75 percent, according to the American Academy
of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and asthma rates in children younger than
five increased by more than 160 percent during that same time period. The
American Lung Association reports that about 34.1 million Americans have
been diagnosed with asthma, and the World Health Organization notes that an
estimated 300 million people around the world suffer with the condition.
Dr. Guy Delespesse, a professor at the University of Montreal Faculty of
Medicine, explains that excessive hygiene limits a child’s exposure to good
or beneficial bacteria, along with the harmful ones. Thus the immune system
cannot “learn” how to respond.
“The bacteria in our digestive system are essential to digestion and also
serve to educate our immune system,” says Delespesse. “They teach it how to
react to strange substances.” Without this learning process, the immune
system can turn against the child, resulting in allergies, asthma, hives,
eczema, or other immune problems.
The risk of these problems occurring and their severity increase as the
level of cleanliness increases. But in areas where the level of sanitation
has remained stable, the level of allergies and related conditions have
remained constant.
One way to address the growing prevalence of allergies and asthma, according
to Delespesse, is to take probiotics (beneficial bacteria) to enrich the
bacterial population in the intestinal tract. Probiotics have been proven to
treat diarrhea and have shown promise in the treatment of allergies,
including eczema. A recent study in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, for
example, found that probiotics was effective in preventing eczema in infants
at high risk of allergies, and others have shown them to be effective in
preventing and treating atopic dermatitis.
Rather than forego cleanliness, Delespesse recommends that women take
probiotics during pregnancy to help reduce allergies in their child. “They
are not a miracle remedy, yet they are one of many elements that improve our
diet and our health,” he says. Other research suggests that taking
probiotics has a positive impact on the immune system.
Source : eMaxhealth.com
