by Amanda Smith, Associate Editor
From the calf to the transition cow, the development and maintenance of a strong immune system plays a significant role on a farm. And while the environment we create impacts our herd's health status, recent research shows it drastically reduces our children's allergy risk, too.
Over the past century, allergies have become the major chronic disorder impacting youth in Western societies. One often cited reason is that children are less exposed to microorganisms and have fewer infections than in previous generations, thereby delaying maturation of the immune system.
Researchers with The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg in Sweden, monitored children until the age of 3 to examine how the immune system matured in relation to allergy development. All of the children lived in rural areas of Sweden. Half of the 65 participants lived on a dairy farm.
Children raised on a dairy ran one-tenth the risk of developing allergies as other rural children. Researchers also noted that pregnant women could benefit from spending time on dairy farms to promote maturation of the fetal and neonatal immune system.
The exact on-farm factors that strengthen protection against allergies and appear to promote maturation of the immune system as early as the fetal stage have not yet been identified.
Children who developed an allergic disease at the age of 18 or 36 months had a higher percentage of immature B-cells in their blood at birth and during the first month of life. This delayed maturation of B-cells was determined to be a risk factor for allergy development.
