Fur-lined bassinet could help reduce baby’s risk for asthma
Exposure to the microbial environment of animal fur during the first three months of life could help reduce the chances of developing asthma during childhood.
Sleeping on animal fur shortly after birth could protect against allergies and asthma, according to German researchers who presented a large-scale, 16-year cohort study at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Munich Monday.
Exposure to the microbial environment of animal fur during the first three months of life could help reduce the chances of developing asthma during childhood, according to Dr. Christina Tischer, from the Helmholtz Zentrum München Research Centre and her team.
“Previous studies have suggested that microbes found in rural settings can protect from asthma,” says Tischer, referring to studies conducted using data from participants from rural areas. “An animal skin might also be a reservoir for various kinds of microbes, following similar mechanisms as has been observed in rural environments.”
Dr. Tischer and her team set out to explore the question as to whether animal pelts could make up for the lack of exposure to dander and nature common among children born and living in urban settings.
They worked with a data from a German birth cohort of 2,441 healthy newborn babies, 55 percent of which slept on animal pelts during the first three months of life.
They weighed the microbial exposure of the babies, who were mostly born in 1998, against their health at the age of 10 and found the chances of developing asthma by the age of six were reduced by 79 percent and reduced by 41 percent for 10 year olds.
“Our findings have confirmed that it is crucial to study further the actual microbial environment within the animal fur to confirm these associations,” says Tischer.
While past studies of farm-raised children have concentrated on the freshness of available food and difference in air quality such as the University of Gothenburg’s study on dairy farms published in July, a study at Johns Hopkins University published in June worked with urban-born children.
It found that exposure to rodent dander and roach pollutants could have a protective effect not unlike the farm setting so long as the infant was exposed within the first year of life.
Studies such as these are prompting a reconsideration of the thinking that babies need a sterile environment.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
Published: 09 Sep 2014
