In the first part of our article on the cause of allergies, we looked at the effects of diet. In this second part, we will look at how hygiene can affect our immune systems. In the modern age, our healthy, clean lifestyles reduce our exposure to bacteria, which consequently means that our immune systems are less ‘busy’ in dealing with such exposures, and as a result, it is more likely to react to otherwise harmless allergens.
Studies have shown that the development of allergies occurs mainly in the first year, when the immature immune system develops, and switches on to what is white blood cells. There is now increasing evidence that low-doses of exposure to allergy creating substances seems to in fact promote allergic sensitisation in young children, while, conversely, high doses of allergen exposure may actually induce immune tolerance and prevent later life allergies.
This is easily illustrated by a recent study of babies born in families with two or more cats or dgos. These babies were less likely to develop later life allergies than if the family ha just one cat or dog, or even none at all. This can further be illustrated by the example of the children of farmers who play in stables, farmyards and other areas which exposes them to a variety of bacteria - it has been shown that tehse children have less chances of dveloping allergies than other children.