Farming Prevents Allergies?
A recent study suggests that children raised on a farm are shown to have a lower risk for developing allergies. “Dr. Jonas Eriksson of the University of Gothenburg and colleagues found that people who spent the first five years of...
Farming Prevents Allergies?
A recent study suggests that children raised on a farm are shown to have a lower risk for developing allergies. “Dr. Jonas Eriksson of the University of Gothenburg and colleagues found that people who spent the first five years of...“Dr. Jonas Eriksson of the University of Gothenburg and colleagues found that people who spent the first five years of their lives on a farm were about 20 percent less likely to have itchy, runny eyes and noses due to allergies, from age 16 up through to age 75.
So-called allergic rhinitis has become increasingly common since the mid-20th century, Eriksson and his team note, although the reasons for the increase are unknown. A
study they conducted found nearly 30 percent of adults in West Sweden had the condition. “The prevalence found in this study is high, but in some countries, e.g. Australia, even higher prevalence has been reported,” Eriksson told Reuters Health via e-mail.
A number of studies have found allergies are less common among children and adults raised on farms but it has not been known if this protection lasts into middle and old age.
To investigate, Eriksson and his colleagues surveyed 18,087 residents of West Sweden about their respiratory health and whether they lived on farms as children. They also looked at whether living in a more urban setting during adulthood affected allergic rhinitis risk.
Twenty percent of people who had lived on a farm up to age 5 had allergic rhinitis, compared to 28 percent of people who hadn’t been raised on a farm. The effect was strongest among 16- to 30-year-olds (20 percent vs. 31 percent), and weakest among 61- to 75-year-olds (17 percent vs. 19 percent).” Source: Farm kids at lower allergy risk, even in their 70s
*Photo by Grant MacDonald
