The Hygiene Hypothesis:
..suggests that children grow up in virtually sterile and non-exposed
Gross 2015
environments-making the immune system less educated than it should be.
The Hygiene Hypothesis is a topic of ongoing debate, with various pieces of evidence both supporting and challenging its validity. On this page, we’ll be examining some of the evidence that supports this hypothesis.
Research has shown that decreased macro and micro diversity is associated with multiple types of immunity concerns. This is further enhanced by physical inactivity and a poor western diet lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables.
Macro and Micro Diversity
In this research:
- Micro diversity refers to diversity in microorganisms, such as bacterial, viral, and fungi
- Macro diversity refers to the interactions between organisms and their environment
Remember how we talked about early development being an imporatnt period? It’s back!
Food introduction refers to the process of exposing infants to potential allergens. While there has been debate over the ideal timeline, a general consensus has now been reached.
Growing research has shown that delaying food introduction might contribute to developing allergic diseases. In fact introducing foods earlier (4-6 months) could be potentially form protection from food allergies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supports this general food introduction timeline.
The CDC recommends to “[start introducing] potentially allergenic foods when you introduce other foods” after 4 months of age in infants.
Overall, these various pieces of evidence support the idea of introducing diversity/potential allergens early- on the premise that exposure helps the immune system develop properly not “glitch” in the case of allergies.