Too much cleanliness may lead to asthma, says study
Posted on: 24/Feb/2017 5:58:02 PM
Scientists from the British Columbia University have found that the obsession with hygiene could even be turning some beneficial bacteria found in the human gut into endangered species. Providing clean water to everyone on the planet has been a major health goal for decades, but scientists have warned that while it reduces the chance of catching a deadly disease it could also increase the risk of asthma.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, the researchers said, The obsession with hygiene could even be turning some beneficial bacteria found in the human gut into endangered species. We had found the presence of four types of bacteria in the gut of babies less than 100 days old seemed to prevent them from developing asthma in later life. We then decided to see if the same was true for children elsewhere in the world and settled on Ecuador, where about 10 per cent of children have asthma, for our next study.
We found the same protective effect of the four bugs, but also two unexpected factors that increased the risk of the condition: a particular type of yeast in the gut and access to a clean water supply. Ironically the kids with clean water had a higher risk of asthma. I guess it makes sense [because of the lower levels of bacteria] but I must admit we were surprised to see that. You`d think clean water is good for the world. Too many people still felt the need to kill bugs and urged them to throw away their anti-bacterial wipes. I would say we`re suffering from a hygiene hangover.
We have cleaned the world up too much. Maybe these microbes are actually an endangered species - your great grandkids are going to have different microbes than you do. There are people biobanking things - I`m not suggesting you should biobank your poop now and give it to your grandkids. I don`t know. I worry we have got too clean and we have got to ease off a little bit. We have evolved with these microbe all along. I do think we have to rethink this absolute war on all microbes - `kill them all, carpet bomb them` - I think that`s wrong. Hygiene works - we have got rid of infectious diseases, no doubt about it, but this is a consequence of that. Certain microbes fix one condition but make another worse . So it`s complex.
