04 Jul Get a dog or cat to reduce food allergies?
A new study published in the prestigious journal PLOS One collected data from more than 65,000 participants found that having a pet either during fetal development or in early infancy significantly reduced the risk of food allergies.
Specifically, children exposed to indoor dogs were significantly less likely to develop egg, milk, and nut allergies and children exposed to cats were significantly less likely to have egg, wheat and soybean allergies. Surprisingly, children exposed to hamsters had significantly greater incidence of nut allergies.
There is also previous data indicating that farm animal exposure is also associated with lower risk of food allergies.
Another reason to get a cat (unless, like me, you are allergic) or dog… But don’t tell my kids!
