Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases

For me this link results in a 503<p>I&#x27;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 role in training the immune system not to over-react to (harmless) micro-organisms later on in life, and thus &quot;train&quot; the immune system better. Their hypothesis now seems to have been validated.<p>Basically this comes down to the hunch I had for quite a long time: Isolating children into an almost clinical environment is not a great way to boost the immune system. This might explain why there are so many people with allergies. People living too cleanly and not getting exposed to (benevolent) micro-organisms so that their immune system prepares them when exposed to later in life. I think that&#x27;s one of the reasons that kids that are around pets early in life usually have lower risk of developing allergies later on.<p>The reasoning went like this: We&#x27;ve spent most of our evolution in caves digging in dirt, and now (relatively) recently we have been transported into an environment where we can pretty much have the cleanest settings. What do you think this will do to our immune system?

There is more to it than this. My children have had severe food allergies since birth: we know this b&#x2F;c they had reactions to breast milk based on what mom would eat.<p>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.<p>With that said, however, my kids are filthy all the time and play outside constantly in the dirt. One of the seven allergies has resolved completely and one appears to be resolved (haven&#x27;t done a full challenge yet). No luck with the other five foods yet though.<p>We don&#x27;t know about the asthma. Seems better but its managed with meds. Its also way scarier than anaphylaxis (and will be triggered by anaphylaxis and gets worse over the course of a week until he is in the hospital unless we aggressively treat it the moment he has breathing symptoms). The eczema comes and goes. Sometimes it responds to various treatments but usually it doesn&#x27;t.<p>Its complicated. But kids should be filthy most of the time.

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.

Kids should be allowed to eat dirt. They should be exposed to rich, biodiverse environments, not just asphalt, rubber safety mats or impoverished monocultural lawns (although the latter are better than nothing, at least unless they&#x27;re chock full of pesticides and herbicides…) Adults should, too, for that matter.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.ph&#x2F;2025.03.15-094650&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;publications.ersnet.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;erj&#x2F;49&#x2F;6&#x2F;1700470" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.ph&#x2F;2025.03.15-094650&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;publications.er...</a>

The hygiene hypothesis [1] is real.<p>Let kids play in the dirt, otherwise they&#x27;ll develop severe allergies to innocuous substances. Early development is when the immune system trains on what is actually harmful. If you don&#x27;t stimulate it, you wind up with pollen and peanut allergies instead of parasite and bacteria immune responses.<p>From the paper:<p><pre><code> Primary prevention Support breastfeeding, with solid foods from 4–6 months onwards Do not avoid exposure to environmental allergens (foods, pets), if not proven necessary Strengthen immunity by increasing contact with natural environments (e.g. by taking regular physical exercise and following a healthy diet such as a traditional Mediterranean or Baltic diet) Antibiotics should only be used in cases of true need (the majority of microbes are useful and build a healthy immune function) Probiotic bacteria in fermented food or other preparations may balance the immune function Do not smoke (parental smoking increases the risk of asthma in children </code></pre> [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hygiene_hypothesis" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hygiene_hypothesis</a>

Further to the Hygiene Hypothesis based approach, add exposure to cattle. They are another common factor during evolution and have a microbial footprint unlike common pets. Over years there have been a number of studies on this, sorry to not have a list of URLs. Take your kids -- and yourselves -- to visit farms and petting zoos.<p>And my anecdotal input: grew up on a livestock farm, also spending a lot of time in woods and river. No allergy problems at all. Moved to a city and had annoyance-level problems ever since. Decades of observation lead me to suspect particulates (engine soot, tire dust, etc.) as significant antagonists beyond the more commonly cited biological villains. Any chemical with a big-enough stretch of molecule to match what an immune cell is using as its search key.

Welp. I had a carpet floor in my bedroom as a kid, but that didn&#x27;t prevent me from developing the badest allergy to dust mites as a teen. It recently got so bad that I started a hyposensitization treatment. Hopefully in 3-5 years it&#x27;ll get better.

&gt; Strengthen immunity by increasing contact with natural environments<p>My mom is a family and children&#x27;s photographer. She likes to photograph kids in their backyards or in local parks, sitting in the grass. She often encounters small children who are unnerved by the feeling of grass as they have never touched it before. Also, parents will ask if their child could sit on a blanket, because the ground is dirty. I&#x27;m really curious how this attitude started. It is so alien to me.

Basically put a dog into your home and you are covered.

my wife couldn&#x27;t breastfeed because there was no milk production. That&#x27;s the top recommendation?<p>Now what will happen to my son?

Torille

What is determined to be success?