Has our war on microbes left our immune systems prone to dysfunction?

interesting article
Has our war on microbes left our immune systems prone to dysfunction? | Ars Technica

To much disinfecting/sanatising everything and not enough germs, bacteria etc

lex said:

interesting article
Has our war on microbes left our immune systems prone to dysfunction? | Ars Technica

To much disinfecting/sanatising everything and not enough germs, bacteria etc

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Without a doubt... the more kids are kept in sanitised area's the worse their immune systems get...

Kids are meant to eat dirt, insects etc..

that which doesn't kills us only makes us stronger

I'd happily take worms over allergies if that was proven to work.

Admin said:

that which doesn't kills us only makes us stronger

Click to expand...

Not really.

Problem is its a fine line between exposing the immune system to a wide range of bugs and making you sick. Getting pneumonia and end up with permanent lung scarring and reduced lung capacity is hardly making you stronger.

The more energy the body has to put into fighting off infection the less energy left for growth. This is why average heights have been increasing over the years. Less infection and better access to food during our growing years.

Get sick during a growth spurt in your teens could potentially knock cms off your height. Not really a issue for most of us now but the same thing would happen with muscle growth. Not going to grow much muscle if you are constantly sick from being unhygienic.

It's not as simple as saying we just need to get out in the dirt and eat mud and shit as kids.

I'm pretty confident that overly hygienic environments will prove to be the root cause of the fairly dramatic increase in children with allergies. there are studies to back the theory to some extent (Allergy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , Hygiene hypothesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and speaking anecdotally, it seems to me that the kids who have the allergy problems are typically the ones with the mums who are super anal.

i'm also seeing a lot of mums blanding out their kids diets. one in particular, she's almost 18 months the only things i've ever seen her eating/drinking are breast milk (yay) fruit mush and those breadsticks for kids. can't imagine that helps :\