Mmmmm Dirt

When I was in Buffalo a few weekends ago, I read this great article in Newsweek about the increase in food allergies among young children. It’s a topic that I’ve been wondering about ever since our pediatrician gave us a long list of foods that I was not allowed to give to my child for fear that she might develop some type of allergy. I thought that it was a rather counter-intuitive approach because it seems to me that you should introduce foods earlier so that children get more used to different food. Then again, who am I to argue with modern science? So, I became a food vigilante, monitoring her every bite (well, not quite, but close).

Turns out, that this “introduce foods later” theory is not the only one out there. In fact, there’s some debate about whether that’s a more or less effective strategy. In addition, there are two competing theories for why food allergies have soared recently: 1) an increase in c-sections leads to fewer children being doused with the fluids from the birth canal (which have all kinds of crazy properties that we don’t understand), thus more immune system problems; and 2) we are too damn clean! I’m not going to touch that first theory, although I have lots of other reasons for loathing the current nonchalance by which women have c-sections these days. But, that’s a blog for another day. Besides, the scientists are pretty sure that the second reason (the cleanliness one) is more likely the culprit.

It makes perfect sense really. We deprive our children of every bacteria, of every germ, of every speck of dirt, and they don’t get a chance to really build up a solid immune system. So, their little immune cells (I’m sure that’s the technical word for it) start attacking “good” things like food. Kids in foreign countries and those who grow up on farms don’t have nearly as many food allergies as kids who grow up in our ultra-sanitized suburban homes. If you think about it, you might also realize that your friends and family who are the most clean are also usually the sickest. Ok. So, that’s a little anecdotal and not exactly up to my usual scientific rigor, but it’s true none the less. All of this is really just to give a big hooray for all of the Moms out there who, like me, say “well, a little dirt never killed anyone.”