Exposure to germs and microorganisms is good for kids

Team L&M

This one may come as a surprise to most of you parents but if a research is to be believed then providing ultra-clean environment to your children may be bad and that no early exposure to dirt and germs increases the instances of eczema, asthma, hay fever and childhood diabetes.

Exposure to germs and microorganisms in early childhood is good for kids as it helps to develop the immune system. If there is no exposure to dirt and germs at an early age, the immune system does not learn as to how to control foreign agents. And it increases the instances of asthma, hay fever, eczema and childhood diabetes.

The researchers have gone on to explain that the increase in hygiene practices like pasteurising milk and boiling water has helped ward off diseases and subsequent deaths are more likely to hit kids who grow up in cleaner homes. They add that once humans understood that microbes cause disease, there has been an attempt to rid the bodies from any type of fungi, virus or bacterium.

The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, compared the immune systems of children, who grew up on small single-family farms to those who were similar genetically, but grew up on large, industrialised farms. The results revealed that single-family farm kids, were living in environments described as “rich in microbes” or full of barnyard dust, had low rates of asthma. It was also pointed out that not only does early life exposure to microbes shape the immune system, but the endocrine system, and even the child’s neurodevelopment.