My grandma used to always say that cleanliness is next to godliness, but are we so clean that we are damaging our immune systems?
Some theories suggest that our cleaner environments and heavier use of antibiotics basically make our immune systems lazy. Our immune systems used to have to fight all sorts of life threatening illnesses like smallpox, bubonic plague and polio. Now that we have vaccines and these illnesses are eradicated what are we left to fight? According to WebMD, our cleanliness is leaving our immune systems to fight “harmless proteins” like pollen, foods and animals. This could be one reason that the rate of food allergies increased 18% between the years 1997 and 2007[i].
So let’s compare, by looking at developed, developing and underdeveloped countries we can look for patterns and relationships between cleanliness and allergies. According to the National Library of Medicine, 1 in 5 children from industrialized countries suffer from an allergy related disease.[ii] Developing countries have similar patterns showing, with more than 15% of children in the UK showing a tendency toward allergies. In underdeveloped areas the health standards are much lower and the children are already fighting serious illness but allergies are not an issue that they deal with often.
A study done by Hesselmar, Hicke-Roberts and Wennergren concluded that families that hand wash their dishes, as opposed to using a dishwasher, report fewer occurrences of allergies[iii]. They point to less effective sanitizing of dishes increases tolerance to exposure to outside infections.
Please understand, I am in no way saying that we should start eating off of dirty plates and not washing our hands. I am just saying that being OVERLY CLEAN could increase your risk of allergies and allergy related illness.
SOURCES:
[i] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db10.htm
[ii] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841828/
[iii] Hesselmar, B., A. Hicke-Roberts, and G. Wennergren. “Allergy in Children in Hand Versus Machine Dishwashing.” Pediatrics 135.3 (2015): 590-97.
Over the years so much has changed throughout medicine and it was brought to my attention in the past that allergies are becoming way more popular to later generations. CNN posted an article on a first-hand source with a 2-year-old baby who had such a bad allergy. researchers state that nearly 3 million children younger than 18 have a food allergy. More and more ER visits are common because of food allergies. Your post was very important to readers to realize that our bodies are not use to fighting certain infections because we are “too clean”. Here is a link to show the most common allergies that are seen today that weren’t well known in earlier generations.
Interesting post. I never even imagined that it would be harmful to be “too clean”, but your post has convinced me otherwise. When it comes to the diagnoses of more allergies, though, might it be that doctors no longer have to concern themselves with fighting the likes of polio and other eradicated diseases, so when children come in for their yearly checkups, the doctors are able to look more closely and find these less malevolent illnesses? When more glaring issues were present, Doctors had no time to concern themselves with food allergies, but instead had to focus on saving patients lives. Just a little something to think about in addition to your post!