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Articles on Hygiene hypothesis

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Children’s early interactions with their environment are essential for the immune systems to learn to differentiate between safe versus dangerous disease-causing microbes. (CDC/Cade Martin)

A year of COVID-19 lockdown is putting kids at risk of allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases

COVID-19 prevention measures are at odds with guidelines for healthy development of children’s immune systems. The result may be a cluster of youth with more allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease.
Modern diets are changing the compositions of our gut microbiota, and with that, our personalities. from shutterstock.com

Essays on health: microbes aren’t the enemy, they’re a big part of who we are

For most of the twentieth century, we were at war with microbes, leading to substantial changes in our body’s ecosystem. This has changed our diets, disease profile, moods and even personalities.
Allergies are becoming more frequent in the western world. Al Fed/Flickr

What are allergies and why are we getting more of them?

Allergies are reactions caused by the immune system as it responds to environmental substances that are usually harmless. But we don’t yet have a cure or the ability to prevent them from developing.
Early exposure to siblings and dogs may help to train the developing immune system. Flickr/henry...

Infants with siblings and pets less likely to develop allergies

Having older siblings and a dog that lives in the home could reduce the likelihood of infants developing egg allergies, according to a new study published in the latest edition of the journal Allergy…
Could cleanliness be causing the rise of auto-immune diseases and allergies? Arlington County/flickr

How clean is too clean? Trust your gut instincts

Could our obsession with cleanliness in our homes be working against us? Advertisers fetishise germ-free kitchens and bathrooms where the threat of “harmful bacteria” is always lurking but can be eradicated…

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