June 17, 2004

Another Reason to live in the Country

Many studies have been conducted with regard to allergies and children. In today's society we take pride in household hygiene. But the old theory that a squeaky-clean modern lifestyle makes your children healthier may not render the best results. With the general US population spending 90 percent of their time indoors, it makes one wonder why allergies in the past few decades have increased in our children.

There have been a number of studies conducted on allergies affecting children. And findings have shown that children reared on farms are less prone to allergies. A recent investigation conducted by Dr. Josef Riedler from the Salzburg Children's Hospital in Austria determined that children living on farms had more protection than their peers. Not only that, but the earlier a child was exposed to farm life, the more protection they developed to allergies.

Another study at the Danish Epidemiological Service Center in Copenhagen found that having older siblings helped protect against allergic diseases. Also having family pets was beneficial to young children. Other tests showed that only one percent of children exposed to stables and milk before their first birthday developed asthma as compared with 11 percent of children between one and five years old.

Additional observations with children living on small farms in Bavaria, Switzerland and Austria concluded that children who often drank raw milk and lived near stables had 75 percent fewer overall allergies than their counterparts. A more traditional lifestyle seemed to actually protect the child.

So let the dishes wait. Take the children outside to play with the family dog and enjoy your rural lifestyle.