Surprising New Info on Children,
Allergies and Pets
by Susan Dunn,The
EQ Coach
MA Clinical Psychology
Have you wondered whether to get your child
a pet or not? Does your family have a history of allergies
and have you been told by your pediatrician it's not a good
idea?
There's interesting news from the Medical College
of George (MCG), evidence from a new study about children
and pets published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association that having pets may actually help with allergies.
Dr. Dennis R. Ownby, chief of MCG's Section
of Allergy and Immunology has followed 474 babies from birth
to age 7 and has found that children exposed to two or
more indoor pets were half as likely to develop common allergies.
"Allergists have been trained for generations
that dogs and cats in the house are bad because they increase
the risk of you becoming allergic to them; we know that before
you become allergic to something, you have to be repeatedly
exposed to it."
He and his staff were just as surprised at the
results of their study as you may be reading it! "The
data didn't look the way it was supposed to; as a matter of
fact, it was very strongly the opposite of what we expected
to find," said Ownby.
Ownby speculates that the reason so many kids
have allergies and ashthma now is because we live too clean
a life. When kids play with cats and dogs, he says, they get
licked. And that lick transfers a lot of Gram-negative bacteria
that may change the way the child's immune system responds,
says Ownby.
The "lick" gives them exposure to
higher levels of what's called "endotoxins," the
breakdown toxin from the Gram-negative bacteria. According
to an article from the Medical College of Georgia, studies
from southern Germany and Switzerland are confirming that
children of farmers, regularly exposed to animals, have less
allergies than city kids.
Check it out with your pediatrician, but it
may be getting a pet or two would be beneficial for your children's
allergy resistance, as well as all the other benefits we drive
from our beloved pets.
(c)Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psychology,
The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc
. Coaching for all your needs, including increasing your child's
emotional intelligence. It matters more to their future success
and happiness than their IQ.
Send email to: sdunn@susandunn.cc
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