Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."
Score another for the hygeine hypothesis (Score:5, Informative)
Re:good (Score:1, Informative)
In a way it has been legislated that parents have to be helicopter parents. Example car seats. Car seats of are so much work and yet for children over 2, they are no better than seat belts. abcnews [go.com]
So we need to stop believing(and legislating) everything about safety and health.
Re:How is this news? (Score:1, Informative)
The thought of dirty brown people with poopy fingers scares me enough.
If that keeps you out of society, good.
Re:How is this news? (Score:0, Informative)
chinga a tu madre pinche troll racista de mierda
Re:nt (Score:5, Informative)
It could be that the process of cleansing is itself stressful to the skin when carried to excess.
This has been understood for at least several decades.
When I was in college, back in the late 60s and early 70s, a doctor diagnosed my dry, cracked skin and ongoing rashes as the result of too many showers. He recommended only one or two showers a week, with the qualification that any heavy exercise that produced sweating could probably be followed by a shower. I tried following his advice, and the problems cleared up. His explanation is that soap doesn't just clear away dirt and micro-organisms; it also removes surface skin cells and destroys oils, and this isn't too good for the skin.
This whole story is basically just reaffirming what has been understood in the medical community for a long time. As with most other biological topics, extremes in cleanliness aren't especially good for your health. You're better off being mostly clean, but with a small surface sprinkling of the sort of stuff that we evolved with. Soapy water does the same thing to your skin cells as it does to the bacteria. Your skin cells to have mechanisms (proteins) that bind them together, so they don't wash away all that easily. But your skin does succumb eventually to the same chemical attacks that remove the bacteria, if you hit it with too strong an attack.
Re:nt (Score:2, Informative)
His explanation is that soap doesn't just clear away dirt and micro-organisms; it also removes surface skin cells and destroys oils, and this isn't too good for the skin.
Our son used to get skin problems (dry, rashes), we stopped using soap and just went with water and facecloth for shower or bath. Problems gone.
That being said, I work on infection control software and as a result am pretty fussy about washing hands after going to the toilet and before eating meals.
Re:How is this news? (Score:5, Informative)
As far as autism goes, the accepted explanation in the medical community is that the rates are increasing because the categories are being redefined to include more symptoms, and because more patients are being checked for it than in the past. It's only the anti-vaccine nutters who are latching on to they hypothesis that the actual incidence rates are going up.
Re:All things in balance!!!! (Score:3, Informative)
"I love rare meat. There is probably more to it than just that."
It depends on the meat. Chicken has to be cooked thoroughly because salmonella can live in the meat. Steak is meant to be raw on the inside, but must be seared on the outside because some meat packer probably dropped the thing so e. coli could be living on the surface. Ground meat should be cooked through because some meat packer probably dropped it, ground it up (thoroughly mixing the bacteria in) and then dropped it again for good measure.
Re:old news? (Score:3, Informative)
What kind of irresponsible doctor writes your girlfriend a prescription for a Z-Pak with those symptoms?
Re:Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger (Score:3, Informative)
They're right only for a limited subset of microbes that people in hospitals are susceptible to. Your body is FULL of "microbes" already. What makes things like staph dangerous is open wounds and weakened immune systems... the sort of thing you generally only see in hospitals. Washing your hands at home because you touched a stick in the back yard is obsessive, not sensible.
That "limited subset" of microbes is quite unlimited. Virtually any microbe that gets into your body proper is dangerous even the normally nice ones in your digestive system. The body is designed to keep that stuff out for a good reason. Even with a healthy immune system you can die from microbes that get in. That's why nurses are hard core about cleanliness in the hospital. And I really don't why you brought up home cleanliness. It's not my experience that nurses are more obsessive about this than anyone else.