Do children raised on farms have an immunological advantage over city kids?
Vaccines have become one of the most talked about and disputed medical tools of the 21st century. Often people may use the argument of children raised on farms in an effort to oppose vaccination, as they appear to have strong immunological systems despite having taken less vaccines.
Evidently since 1989, Dr. David Strachan came up with ‘the hygiene hypothesis’, simply by observing this difference and inferring that being exposed to farmland germs is the key to it. For years this has been the focus of many studies, research facilities, and more, in an effort to further understand the processes underlying the obvious distinction between farmland kids and city kids.
Since then, scientists have been studying this immunological advantage for over two decades and have come to understand that the most important aspect is the early exposure (we’re talking as early as in utero) of farmland kids to germs. In fact, studies today have even managed to narrow down these germs to three simple things: contact with cows, consumption of unprocessed cow’s milk, and contact with straw. Children subjected to the latter are significantly less at risk of developing asthma, allergies and even some microbial infections.
The Gabriela study sought to understand which specific components of unprocessed cow’s milk made way for the reduction of asthma and allergy development. Conducted in rural regions in Europe, their findings were interesting. They were able to link the reduction of asthma development to a single component in cow’s milk: whey protein. However, they were unable to find a connection with allergy reduction.
Medical professionals all over America have also found that patients raised in Amish communities also seem to present this immunological advantage. In this case, they do not attribute their strong immune systems to farm exposure alone. The environment children are raised in is equally as critical. Amish communities are less polluted than big cities; they usually consist of large families and require a lot of manual labor. Once you combine the hygiene hypothesis with more physical exercise and less pollution, the superior health observed in the Amish community can be better understood.
In 2013, the university of Wisconsin-Madison launched a large scale, two-year study to comprehend in detail which fungi, bacteria and microbiota in general are involved in this clear advantage. The results of this study have yet to be published but seem to be very promising.
As of today, although the correlation is evident and the causation is somewhat understood, it is still unclear what the details of the mechanism behind this advantage are.
So, does this mean that everyone should move to a farm? I personally don’t think so. I like to look at farmland immunity as a natural mode of vaccination. Growing up in the city leaves you at a disadvantage: everything has to be clean and sterilized and children aren’t allowed to play outside without extensive measures of protection. We aren’t exposed to animals, allergens, not to mention what we are exposed to: extensive pollution. Yet, instead of packing up and leaving the city, the city kid does have a simple solution: immunization.
P.S City kids- don’t attempt to self-immunize yourself by drinking unpasteurized milk. Drinking unpasteurized milk in an effort to strengthen your immune system is actually very dangerous, leading to harmful bacterial infections including: E. Coli, Salmonella and Listeria to name a few. So, word of advice: stick to the milk from grocery stores.
By Hanaa Haidar
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