Who said that being too clean will damage the immunity of children?

In medicine, the "hygiene hypothesis" believes that early childhood exposure to specific microorganisms helps the development of the immune system, thereby preventing allergic diseases

However, there is a general view (public narrative) that Western society in the 21st century is too hygienic, which means that toddlers and children are likely to be exposed to fewer bacteria in the early stages, and therefore are more resistant to allergies.

In a paper published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the researchers pointed out four important reasons.

Graham Luke, the first author of the study and Professor Emeritus of Medical Microbiology, Department of Infection and Immunity, University College London, said: "Early life exposure to microbes is essential for the'education' of the immune and metabolic systems

"The microorganisms living in our intestines, skin and respiratory tract also play an important role in maintaining our right to health in the elderly: Therefore, we need to be exposed to these beneficial microorganisms throughout our lives, mainly from our mothers, other family members and Natural environment

"But for more than 20 years, the public has believed that hand and household hygiene, which is essential to prevent exposure to pathogenic pathogens, also hinder access to beneficial microorganisms

"In this paper, we tried to reconcile the obvious conflict between the two.

In reviewing the evidence, the researchers pointed out four factors

• First of all, the microorganisms found in modern families are, to a large extent, not the microorganisms we need for immunity

  
  

• Secondly, in addition to protecting us from the infection of its target, vaccines can also strengthen our immune system, so we now know that we don’t need to risk death and be exposed to pathogens

  
  

• Third, we now have concrete evidence that the microorganisms in the natural green environment are particularly important to our health; household cleanliness and hygiene have nothing to do with our exposure to the natural environment

  
  

• Finally, recent studies have shown that when epidemiologists discover the association between cleaning the home and health problems and other allergies, this is usually not due to the removal of organic matter, but the exposure of lung cleaning products, causing a kind of harm and encouraging the development of allergies Response

  
  

Professor Luke added: "So, cleaning the room is very good, and personal cleanliness is also very good, but as explained in detail in the paper, in order to prevent the spread of infection, you need to target the hands and surfaces that are most likely to be infected

"Contact with our mothers, family members, natural environment and vaccines can provide all the microbial inputs we need

Journal Reference :

1. Graham AW Rook, Sally F.