How 'Dog Dust' Combats Asthma And Allergies

[FarCenter]

Exposure to "dog dust," or the dried flakes of skin that fall from Fido, may protect against developing allergies and asthma in later life by altering intestinal bacteria, a new study in mice suggests.
The dust appears to contain bacteria that, when present in an animal's gut, affects the production of immune cells in the animal's airway.

"Perhaps early life dog exposure introduces microbes into the home that somehow influence the gut microbiome, and change the immune response in the airways," said study researcher Susan Lynch, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Past research has shown that exposure to pets, particularly dogs, during infancy may prevent people from developing allergies, and other work has found that bacteria in the gut can affect allergies and asthma. The new study adds to the research because it links these ideas — showing that the reason exposure to dog dust may prevent allergies is that the dust affects the population of gut microbes.

Read more: http://www.livescience.com/41988-dog-exposure-protects-against-allergies.html

[shenmue]

1. Another reason to adopt a dog

[X_Digger]

2. And there are those of us who've always had dogs and yet have allergies and asthma..

Ah well.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

3. Nothing always works,

just a statistical link. But obviously the more you're exposed to early, the less likely you'll be allergic later.

[X_Digger]

4. And like much science conducted on mice.. it may not apply to humans.

Seriously, there have been like 50 cures for various cancers- in mice- that don't pan out for humans.

http://anaximperator.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/if-it-works-in-a-mouse-it-works-in-a-man-right-well-not-necessarily/