Thursday, December 10, 2009

Hygiene Hypothesis

This hypothesis has immense truth to it, well at-least that's my perspective since I lived in both India and USA.
“In medicine, the hygiene hypothesis states that a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents, symbiotic microorganisms (e.g., gut flora or probiotics), and parasites increases susceptibility to allergic diseases by modulating immune system development.
The hygiene hypothesis is supported by epidemiological data. Studies have shown that various immunological and autoimmune diseases are much less common in the developing world than the industrialized world and that immigrants to the industrialized world from the developing world increasingly develop immunological disorders in relation to the length of time since arrival in the industrialized world.Studies in mice have shown that exposure of young mice to viruses can result in a decreased incidence of diabetes.”


This obviously doesn't mean we should go around sticking parasites into kids, but not be
monkishly obessed on being 'germ free" and stop from becoming a "purell nation". Evolving theory (still in its nascent stages) vindicates this hypothesis.

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