March 29, 2023 – If your toddler is begging for a furry friend, there could also be one more reason to provide in.
New research shows that keeping domestic cats and dogs in uterus or early childhood results in fewer cases of food allergies because the child grows. Over 65,000 children were tested. and 22% who got here into contact with pets had fewer food allergies than those that weren't tested, in accordance with the outcomes published Wednesday within the journal Plus oneThe study was conducted in Japan.
Children exposed to domestic cats were less more likely to have soybeans, wheat and eggs Allergies. When children got here into contact with dogs, that they had less nutEgg and milk allergies. Surprisingly, the likelihood of nut allergy was 0.9% higher in children who had contact with hamsters.
“Studies that ask these kinds of questions are really important because they have a lot of real-life relevance, and this study involved a lot of children,” said Joyce Yu, MD, a pediatric allergist and immunologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Yu was not involved in the brand new study.
We know that Americans love their pets. About 25% of American households (about 32 million) have a cat, and dogs are present in a whopping 48 million American households. after to the US statistics on pet ownership.
We asked allergists and immunologists in regards to the scientific background to the query of why keeping pets results in fewer food allergies.
The “hygiene hypothesis”
The study's findings will be attributed to the “hygiene hypothesis,” which dates back to 1989, said Dr. Jonathan Tam, medical director of the Gores Family Allergy Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
“Allergists are interested in the potential impact of the environment on the risk of allergic disease,” said Tam. “In the past, the risk of allergies, such as hay feverwas lower depending on the number of siblings and agricultural residence – thus the 'hygiene hypothesis' arose.”
The study from Japan is consistent with this idea, suggesting that exposure to pets in the womb or early infancy may lead to fewer cases of allergies in the growing child, says Dr. Sebastian Lighvani, an allergist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
“Contact with pets in the womb or in early childhood changes the Microbiome of the infants and the mother in a positive way, which then promotes Immune tolerance to allergens and not to the development of sensitization due to a food allergy,” said Lighvani.
Previous studies have found that children who grew up on a farm had fewer allergies than those in urban areas. Therefore, children who grow up in a “hygienic” environment with less contact with pets may be at higher risk of developing allergies in adulthood, said Juris A. Grasis, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California, Merced.
Pets and allergens in the USA
Some allergists believe it is very likely that the results apply in the United States as well. The number of allergy cases in the United States has skyrocketed over the years. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, approximately 20 million Americans suffer from food allergies.
Lighvani attributes the increase to changes in a process that EpigeneticsThis is the case when the genetic makeup you inherit from your parents is activated by environmental influences. The genes are methylated – This involves a genetic change, usually in early childhood, which leads to the development of allergy genes.
Lighvani cited the rise in peanut allergies in children’s classes for instance. “If you ask who Peanut allergies“Maybe more than half of the kids raise their hands because the prevalence is so high in such a short period of time – 20, 30, 40 epigenetic years,” he said.
Some experts are skeptical that the US would achieve similar results as the Plus one Study. The U.S. varies greatly in population size and region, which can complicate things. “The East Coast is different from the Midwest by way of how our pets live together,” said Yu
Say yes to pets
For animal lovers – or those who are “animal curious” – the Japanese study is extremely encouraging, Grasis said. Best of all, you don't have to live on a farm or in a rural area to reap these health benefits. Just having your pet share the indoor space with your baby is enough.
“Simply sharing your property with a cat or dog as a baby has advantages that may result in a discount in food allergies in maturity,” he said.