Is Cleanliness to Blame for Increasing Allergies?

[The Straight Story]

Is Cleanliness to Blame for Increasing Allergies?

ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — Allergies have become a widespread in developed countries: hay fever, eczema, hives and asthma are all increasingly prevalent. The reason? Excessive cleanliness is to blame according to Dr. Guy Delespesse, a professor at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine.

Allergies can be caused by family history, air pollution, processed foods, stress, tobacco use, etc. Yet our limited exposure to bacteria concerns Dr. Delespesse, who is also director of the Laboratory for Allergy Research at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal.

"There is an inverse relationship between the level of hygiene and the incidence of allergies and autoimmune diseases," says Dr. Delespesse. "The more sterile the environment a child lives in, the higher the risk he or she will develop allergies or an immune problem in their lifetime."

In 1980, 10 percent of the Western population suffered from allergies. Today, it is 30 percent. In 2010, one out of 10 children is said to be asthmatic and the mortality rate resulting from this affliction increased 28 percent between 1980 and 1994.

"It's not just the prevalence but the gravity of the cases," says Dr. Delespesse. "Regions in which the sanitary conditions have remained stable have also maintained a constant level of allergies and inflammatory diseases."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413160901.htm

[paulsby]

1. god made dirt and dirt don't hurt

this is why a country boy will survive.
get out in the outdoors. play in the dirt. etc.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

2. Cleanliness isn't next to Godliness after all? n/t

[mattvermont]

3. ridding our systems from hookworm

has led to many, if not most auto-immune diseases.
"This American Life" was talking about it, and it was actually, a very compelling argument.
Check out Hookworm and immunity on the google

[Captain Hilts]

4. Kids who grow up with pets are less likely to have allergy problems, so, yes, I think so. nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. But allergies are increasing in China and India, too

Now I don't know about India, but no one ever accused China of being crazy clean. It's actually kind of grubby.

I think the evidence points to automobile exhaust, especially diesel.

[SoCalDem]

6. Germ-phobic people sometimes are not all that healthy

Especially children should be exposed to the run-of-the-mill germs in society.

My boys played outside in the dirt, we had pets, (and dust-bunnies under the furniture too)..no allergies..

Modernity has assaulted our bodies with all kinds of chemicals , and no one can predict how each person will react, so I'm not surprised that allergies are on the increase.

people are also more inclined to TREAT those allergies.. Back in my childhood, if one had hay-fever, they just bought more kleenex:)..and if you broke out in hives after you ate something, you just didn't eat THAT anymore:)

[KittyWampus]

7. Also, exposure to chemicals/pollution in our environment. It effects our immune systems which

respond by being in a constant state of inflammation.

Oh, and Autoimmune diseases are also linked to childhood trauma.

[DCKit]

14. Agreed. A bit of "clean" dirt stimulates a healthy immune system, chemicals destroy it.

My biggest pet peeve is the fact that fire-retardant chemicals are incorporated into everything from carpeting, to furniture to children's clothes. WTF????

[old mark]

8. Possibly, and add to that all the chemical combinations we live with, more all the time,

more chemicals/drugs in food, and changes in the climate - record levels of pollens and new pollens in areas they were not found in previously.

Our area has had RECORD pollen counts for several weeks.

mark

[Tailormyst]

9. I think it might be partially to blame

I was never a mom who freaked over dirt or germs or who ran my child in for antibiotics at every sniffle. It might be completely coincidental, but all three have no allergies and very rarely get sick enough to warrant a Dr. visit.

[SeattleGirl]

10. George Carlin had a whole riff on excessive cleanliness.

He thought it was stupid to try to isolate kids from as many germs as possible. He as a great fan of eating dirt! I couldn't agree with him more. Shoot, nothing wrong with kids getting dirty!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

11. CNN did a piece on --

a peanut butter used in Africa to help with the starvation issues there. Anderson Cooper asked about the dangers associated with peanut allergies in the children. The NGO worker said the kids DIDN'T HAVE allergies there. Allergies just didn't exist. :shrug:

[pipi_k]

12. Any other exceptions to this supposition here?

My mom wasn't exactly Mrs Clean when I was a kid. I ate my share of dirt and pet hairs (from all the pets we had).

I'm not Mrs OCD Clean. I've had seven dogs, two cockatiels, a cat, and two geese in the past 15 years


I have year-round rhinitis plus seasonal allergies.

Mold...pollen...ragweed.


I'm suffering miserably right now from whatever is floating around in the air.


Over-cleanliness can't be the only (or main) factor.

[nickinSTL]

13. I don't think that's the whole story, for certain

I developed allergies in my late 20s - and I am in no way overly clean.

(I do shower, so stop thinking that)

It seems that developing allergies after moving to St Louis is a common occurrence - I've met many people who report the same.

I believe it has a lot to do with the air quality - the mold counts, the pollen, the humid summers, and maybe other factors I'm not thinking of.

[AnnieBW]

15. Judging by my house, I should be breathing easy

But I'm not. Of course, my parents were neat freaks. But I never got an allergy until I moved to Maryland.

[mucifer]

16. I'm a big believer in glycerin soap and not antibacterial soap

antibacterial soap helps the superbugs grow.

And yeah this deadly peanut allergy thing didn't seem to exist much in the 60s and 70s. I'm thinking it's pollution or overly processed foods or something. But, I got no proof on that.

Maybe we are all just devolving.