For those who are wondering if adopting furry family members would be good for kids' health, scientists say that these pets can prevent children from developing food allergies.
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Pet Ownership Reduces Risks for Developing Food Allergies
As per the Daily Mail, some Japanese researchers have discovered that children who have been exposed to pets have a 15% (13% to 16%) lesser chance of developing food allergies. In fact, even during the mother's pregnancy, a pet's presence may already reduce these likelihoods significantly.
CBS News reports that for those with pet dogs, there is a reduced risk for developing food allergies to nuts, milk, and eggs. For cat owners, on the other hand, it involved wheat, soybeans, and eggs.
Ownership of birds or turtles did not have any significant difference. Moreover, children who were exposed to hamsters had a higher risk of getting allergic to nuts, potentially because of the nuts consumed by hamsters.
Findings follow a groundbreaking study regarding how introducing four- to six-month-old children to peanuts may dampen likelihoods of developing a nut allergy. These chances were reportedly reduced by a whopping 80%.
Findings of the study were published in the PLOS One journal. It is based on the data analysis of more than 65,000 infants who were monitored until their third year. Around 22% had pet exposure during fetal development.
Food allergy prevalence was gauged through parent-reported allergy diagnoses made by doctors.
Dr. Hisao Okabe, the study's lead author who is from the Fukushima Medical University, notes that such a hygiene hypothesis proposes how exposure to pets may be effectively preventive when it comes to food allergies. He further notes that other studies have examined how being exposed to dogs during infancy or fetal development affects food allergies. Their study specifically aimed to look into the various pet species and their impact on food allergy risk.
While these findings are significant, the study cannot say that the link between pet exposure and food allergy risk is causal. Nevertheless, the researchers still suggest that their findings can help further research regarding food allergies in children.
Food Allergy Rise
The Daily Mail notes that one leading theory regarding this rise in food allergies is known as the "hygiene hypothesis." Across the world, conditions for living could be "too clean." Germs supposedly play a role in training the immune systems to know the difference between irritants that are harmful and harmless.
Medical Xpress reports that in countries with high incomes, over one out of every ten children gets food allergies. Such incidents also keep rising. Considering this, scientists are looking for novel ways to address this issue.
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