A study from Belgium has been the first to establish a causal relationship between farm life and allergy resistance.
The research found that a specific protein called A20 is the reason children living on farms enjoy increased resistance to allergies. Breathing in farm dust causes the lungs to produce more A20.
This then reduces allergic reactions to other kinds of dust. This all happens when the lungs are still developing, early in a child’s life.
Another recent finding suggests that children who grow up on farms have a wider variety of microbes in their gut, and have up to a 70 percent reduced prevalence of allergies and asthma compared with children who do not grow up on farms.
It’s nice to hear some new positives for the rural life.
