A Common Sense Approach to Preventing Allergies

By Jon Herring

For decades, prevailing medical opinion has held that children should NOT be exposed to potential allergens during their first few years - presumably to protect them from developing allergies. I'm not sure how this idea came about, as it defies what is known about basic immunology. But let's see how it has worked in the real world.

Peanut allergies in the U.S. and UK have doubled in the past 10 years ... at the same time as doctors have been advising pregnant mothers to avoid eating peanuts and warning them against feeding their young children anything made with peanuts. (And, by the way, according to a cover story in USA Today, peanut allergies are 10 times higher in these two countries than in Africa and Asia, where young children are routinely exposed to peanuts.)

And consider a study performed by researchers at the Medical College of Georgia, which found that children who were exposed to dogs or cats in their first year were 45 percent less likely to test positive for pet allergies than kids who had no contact with these animals.

So the research is proving what common sense already tells us. Early exposure to potential allergens helps the developing immune system identify what is (and what is not) a threat. And it certainly makes sense that if the immune system develops over a period of years without exposure to a substance, the first time it is exposed it is more likely to identify that substance as harmful and cause an allergic reaction.

You should still be careful with peanuts, of courses, as they are a choking hazard for small children. But let them play with cats and dogs and roll in the grass. There's a good chance they will be healthier adults as a result.
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This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #1689, 03-30-06], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.