A team of U.S. researchers has come to the conclusion mother’s (and likely Mother Nature) have known for some time – That kids should be allowed to get dirty so they are exposed to germs in the environment.
Super clean hands were actually shown to hinder the ability to heal because the normal bacteria that live on your skin aren’t there to prevent inflammation after an injury, keeping cuts and grazes from swelling. Could it be that our focus on germ proofing our world might be harming us instead?
This research confirming maternal instincts appears in the online edition of Nature Medicine.
The team from the School of Medicine at the University of California San Diego found that a common species of bacteria known as staphylococci is responsible for blocking a vital step in the cascade of events that bring on inflammation in the body.
Looking at mice and human cells, the team found that the harmless bacteria accomplished this by producing a molecule known as lipoteichoic acid or LTA that acts on keratinocytes, the main types of cells found in the outer layer of your skin.
The LTA seems to keep those keratinocytes in check, preventing them from mounting an overly aggressive inflammatory response to an injury.
Research leader Professor Richard Gallo explains, “The exciting implication of the work is that it provides a molecular basis to understand the hygiene hypothesis and has uncovered elements of the wound repair response that were previously unknown. This may help us devise new therapeutic approaches for inflammatory skin diseases.”
The results of this work offer support for the “hygiene hypothesis” that’s been being floated since 1989, suggesting exposure to germs during early childhood helps protect the body against allergies.
It seems that the millions of bacteria and viruses that enter the body help spur the development of a strong, healthy immune system. There’s even research going on today that suggests the worms living in garden variety dirt might actually help redirect an immune system that’s not working properly. Though they might make you squirm, experts assure us that most worms are harmless to well nourished people.
There are those who blame the current obsession on cleanliness (notice all the anti-bacterial wipes, lotions and soaps out there?) for the upswing in allergies in developed nations.
The rising rates of autoimmune conditions and asthma have also been linked to a failure to expose our young children to normal, everyday dirt, encouraging the immune system to turn inward – on itself.
A spokeswoman for Allergy UK confirms, “Rates of allergy have tripled in the UK in the last decade. One in three people now has some kind of allergy.” They confirm that there’s a growing body of evidence that exposing kids to germs is a good thing, but still more research is needed.
Experts such as Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, the director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston believe that the immune system at birth is like an unprogrammed computer that needs instruction.
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Dirt Is Actually Good For Kids Continued…
And while public health efforts like cleaning up contaminated water and food have saved the lives of many children in poor nations, they’ve also reduced the exposure to organisms that might be good for our young people.
“Children raised in an ultraclean environment,” he says, “are not being exposed to organisms that help them develop appropriate immune regulatory circuits.”
How can you do this in today’s super-sanitized world? Here are five great suggestions to help build the immune system of your children, and maybe your own as well:
1. Let kids play in the dirt.
2. Wash using regular soap, not the antibacterial kind.
3. Keep all vaccines up to date, including your tetanus shots.
4. Get plenty of sleep, drink lots of fluids, eat well and avoid as much stress as possible.
5. Don’t obsess about cleanliness.
Daily Health Bulletin
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