We have already commented on occasion: clean children, but not sterile. The same could be said about the environment. Children who grow up in an excessively clean environment are much more likely to suffer from some kind of allergy., since your immune system needs a minimum dose of germs to be active and healthy.
A little dirt can be good because while babies explore their surroundings, their immune system trains to recognize the true infectious agents, and their body is populated with friendly bacteria that will protect and help your body work.
It is very likely therefore that the excess protection of children against their environment is the cause of the increase in allergies, dermatitis and some diseases of the immune system.
The lack of training or immaturity of the immune system is attributed, in good part, that food allergies have passed between 1992 and 2005 from affecting 6% to 15% of children; that atopic dermatitis has increased from 5% to 11% and that respiratory allergies have increased from 75% to 80%.
The decrease in bacterial biodiversity in the human body could also influence other diseases related to the immune system, such as diabetes, obesity and even multiple sclerosis, another of the diseases that has increased the most in recent decades.
Although excessive hygiene is an explanation for this increase, we must take into account other hereditary or environmental factors: pollution, the fact of having changed our eating habits with treated food and that we use more medicines, antibiotics and detergents, among others.
These data have been highlighted on this occasion thanks to the Human Microbiome project in which researchers from around the world are building a map of the bacteria that inhabit the human body, in areas such as the mouth, skin and intestine.
It's not about not being clean or neglecting body or environmental hygiene, but you can't try to sterilize or be completely aseptic.
