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Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

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Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#51

There is more to it than this. My children have had severe food allergies since birth: we know this b/c they had reactions to breast milk based on what mom would eat. The also have had eczema since birth and one developed life threatening asthma at one year old. His trigger is the normal cold virus which he is constantly exposed to. With that said, however, my kids are filthy all the time and play outside constantly…

Sound very stressful. I hope you and your family are doing well. I had problems with asthma in kindergarten and it is very scary for the first few times, after that I at least knew the drill and that I wouldn't die.

Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#53
post #2

For me this link results in a 503 I've read the gist of this article in my local news org feed. What it basically comes down to is that Finnish scientists noticed that Russian children who grew up in rural areas usually had way less asthma cases than Finnish city children, and thus began to research why this was the case. They hypothesized that early (first 10000 days) exposure to micro-organisms might play a key rol…

This is known as the "Hygiene Hypothesis".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

The basic rationale for it is that the human genome did not evolve in a sterile environment, it evolved in an extremely hostile environment, and so developed pretty harsh defense mechanisms, which if not trained (via early exposure) on the appropriate targets will instead learn to target harmless compounds as well as the body itself.

Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#55
post #11
post #2

For me this link results in a 503 I've read the gist of this article in my local news org feed. What it basically comes down to is that Finnish scientists noticed that Russian children who grew up in rural areas usually had way less asthma cases than Finnish city children, and thus began to research why this was the case. They hypothesized that early (first 10000 days) exposure to micro-organisms might play a key rol…

Reminds me of a dark joke I sometimes make: Why are there no Turkish people above forty with nut allergies? Because they all died in early childhood.

My parents' generation (1950 to 1970), born and raised in South Asia, had near zero infant mortality, and have zero food allergies. I have never met an aunt or uncle (out of hundreds) who have had a dietary restriction, and south Asian food uses just about every nut and spice and vegetable on earth.

In addition, the subsequent generation, my cousins, also have zero allergies. It isn’t until the kids born in 2000 and later that we see any allergies.

I found it funny when US doctors prohibit honey for kids until 1 year old due to risk of botulism, but one of the first things my culture does after a baby is born is give it a drop of honey for good luck. I wonder what the risk of botulism really is, because I have never heard of a baby suffering from botulism in my parents’ and my generation.

Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#56
post #6

The hygiene hypothesis [1] is real. Let kids play in the dirt, otherwise they'll develop severe allergies to innocuous substances. Early development is when the immune system trains on what is actually harmful. If you don't stimulate it, you wind up with pollen and peanut allergies instead of parasite and bacteria immune responses. From the paper: Primary prevention Support breastfeeding, with solid foods from 4–6 mo…

Traditional baltic diet ? Please I want to know more (from Estonia)

Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#57
post #6

The hygiene hypothesis [1] is real. Let kids play in the dirt, otherwise they'll develop severe allergies to innocuous substances. Early development is when the immune system trains on what is actually harmful. If you don't stimulate it, you wind up with pollen and peanut allergies instead of parasite and bacteria immune responses. From the paper: Primary prevention Support breastfeeding, with solid foods from 4–6 mo…

Those are good, but I don't see playing in dirt in the list.

> Strengthen immunity by increasing contact with natural environments

Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#58
The hygiene hypothesis is compelling, as many in this thread demonstrate. But there is sort of an opposite less tidy explanation which needs to be studied further: our immune systems are confused by a barrage of foreign antagonists in the modern industrial world and causing it to go haywire.

Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#59
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of a dark joke I sometimes make: Why are there no Turkish people above forty with nut allergies? Because they all died in early childhood.

My parents' generation (1950 to 1970), born and raised in South Asia, had near zero infant mortality, and have zero food allergies. I have never met an aunt or uncle (out of hundreds) who have had a dietary restriction, and south Asian food uses just about every nut and spice and vegetable on earth. In addition, the subsequent generation, my cousins, also have zero allergies. It isn’t until the kids born in 2000 and…

Are you claiming that their country had zero infant mortality, or zero infant mortality from allergies?

Re: Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents' generation (1950 to 1970), born and raised in South Asia, had near zero infant mortality, and have zero food allergies. I have never met an aunt or uncle (out of hundreds) who have had a dietary restriction, and south Asian food uses just about every nut and spice and vegetable on earth. In addition, the subsequent generation, my cousins, also have zero allergies. It isn’t until the kids born in 2000 and…

Are you claiming that their country had zero infant mortality, or zero infant mortality from allergies ?

Sorry, I meant only my family, not the country. As in no parents experienced the loss of a child (born ~1950s and beyond) due to an allergy or an unknown cause (e.g. maybe they did due to a car collision, but not an undiagnosed allergic reaction). Point being that exposing all of those kids to all foods very early did not result in a single one dying. And neither did their kids.

Obviously, I am not advising anyone to not follow their doctors’ instructions, but the sheer numbers in my anecdotal study make me wonder.

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