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Medicine Earth News Science Technology

Study Shows Thumb-Sucking and Nail-Biting Can Be Good For Kids 75

Posted by BeauHD from the positive-reinforcement dept.
HughPickens.com writes: Perri Klass M.D. writes in the NYT that according to a new study of children aged 5 to 11, thumb-suckers and nail-biters were less likely to have positive allergic skin tests later in life. In the study, parents were asked about their children's nail-biting and thumb-sucking habits when the children were 5, 7, 9 and 11 years old. skin testing for allergic sensitization to a range of common allergens including dust mites, grass, cats, dogs, horses and common molds was done when the children were 13 years old, and then later when they were 32. The study found that children who frequently sucked a thumb or bit their nails were significantly less likely to have positive allergic skin tests both at 13 and again at 32. Children with both habits were even less likely to have a positive skin test than those with only one of the habits. The question of such a connection arose because of the so-called hygiene hypothesis, an idea originally formulated in 1989, that there may be a link between atopic disease -- the revved-up action of the immune system responsible for eczema, asthma and allergy -- and a lack of exposure to various microbes early in life. Some exposure to germs, the argument goes, may help program a child's immune system to fight disease, rather than develop allergies. "The hygiene hypothesis is interesting because it suggests that lifestyle factors may be responsible for the rise in allergic diseases in recent decades," says Robert J. Hancox. "Obviously hygiene has very many benefits, but perhaps this is a downside. The hygiene hypothesis is still unproven and controversial, but this is another piece of evidence that it could be true." Although the results do not suggest that kids should take up these habits, the findings do suggest the habits help protect against allergies that persist into adulthood.
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Study Shows Thumb-Sucking and Nail-Biting Can Be Good For Kids More

Study Shows Thumb-Sucking and Nail-Biting Can Be Good For Kids

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  • What about nose-pickers? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12, 2016 @05:11AM (#52495319)

    I'm asking for a friend.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      they were found to be more likely to be overweight social outcasts.

    • Because thanks ti PhotoShop you CAN pick a friends nose!

    • Well my "friend" doesn't suck thumbs or bite nails, so that would be the only other reason for no allergies for me. I mean my friend!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      If cocksucking improves the immune system then your mom should live forever!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      What about ear, butthole, etc. pickers? :P

  • Everything they siad was wrong (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Wanking is good for you. Biting your nails is good for you. What a waste of time those school hygiene talks were
  • In my childhood I bit my nails. My parents abused me and tried to wean from a habit. But if they knew about its helpfulness, their opinion had been change. Or not. Because this study colour me weird.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I bit my nails as a kid and despite years of trying my nails are an awful mess, always wish my parents had pushed harder to stop it. Anecdotally, never had any remote problem with allergies, also rarely get sick.

  • A Slightly Better Article (Score:4, Informative)

    by newcastlejon ( 1483695 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2016 @06:59AM (#52495579)

    NYT spends as many inches on name dropping the researchers as it does explaining the research. The NHS has released an article [www.nhs.uk] that's a little better IMO.

    tl;dr Research paper shows correlation between nail biting in childhood and incidence of allergies in later life, does not elaborate on causal relationship. Results hailed as "common sense" by the usual crowd.

  • If the hypothesis is right, the point isn't the thumb-sucking or nail-biting, it's the exposure to bacteria, and there's a ton of other ways to do that.

    Thumb-sucking in particular often correlates with tooth alignment issues later in life, so perhaps just stop sterilizing the shit out of everything around your kid and they'll get the same benefit without needing braces later?

    • Re: Not really (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Yeah, we should be licking other people for maximum effeciency!

    • Thiss. Fresh air and outdoor exposure early in life, an environment with a dog or cat during infancy, and even eating a little dirt... all great immune system boosters.

      YMMV, but we raised a child with allergies so severe he would wind up in the hospital every spring from 0-3 years of age. With a family history of asthma, we chose to let him strengthen his immune system playing in the dirt with the other children, rather than keeping him inside in the bubble. He is (mostly) grown now with few breathing issue

  • You cannot check this for causation. Does the habit cause later protection, or does per-existing protection cause the habit? No way of doing a controlled study, as feeding nails to random children (even own nails) can be frowned upon.

    Anyway, if it can help reduce the all-encompassing parent anxiety about anything their precious child does, it's welcome.

  • Not worth the other issues (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SirCowMan ( 1309199 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2016 @07:17AM (#52495663)
    Sucking thumbs won't make you immune to allergies.. but it does make it quite likely you'll need dental work, the upper teeth get pushed out, the lower teeth pushed back, and if done regularly can result in requiring a rickanator to correct the jaw position and speech pathology to correct speech. If at all possible, get a pile of similar soothers, rotate them to dissuade a preference, and wean off as the kid gets around 4. No problems then, probably get just as much dirt in their mouth as kids will be dropping them all the time anyway.

  • Unproven (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gringer ( 252588 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2016 @07:23AM (#52495693)

    The hygiene hypothesis is still unproven and controversial

    That's not quite correct; "unproven" is a confusing word here. It's more of an "it depends" situation, rather than a "true/false" situation.

    The hygiene hypothesis can be sort-of demonstrated in some situations (e.g. reduced allergic response to peanuts in mice via oral sensitisation with very low amounts of CpG-coated peanut extract [nih.gov]), and rejected in others (e.g. the parasitic worm H. polygyrus suppresses the adaptive immune response [nih.gov]).

    • What should be looked into more are things like nut allergy. It seems that every other US kid has some kind of nut allergy, often severe and potentially life threatening, while in Europe it's rare and in Asia it's pretty much a non-issue.

      One notable difference: in the US, parents are advised to stay clear of peanuts and other nuts for the first year or so, until sure there is no allergy.

      In Asia, peanut oil is some of the most commonly used cooking oils, peanuts and other nuts are used in food big time, and

      • My son's dairy allergy was present from the get go. He barfed all over the place his second exposure to dairy. Don't know about the peanut allergy, because my wife is allergic, so they weren't ever in the house to begin with. There are a lot of things that are very prevalent in the US of A that aren't as common in other places. But in my opinion it's just a matter of having outsmarted Darwin. 100 years ago, my father would have died in childhood due to his asthma. Instead, he passed that gene along to me. I

        • Makes you wonder what is in dairy that is not in breast milk. The most common chemical that causes reaction is lactose, but that's present in breast milk as well.

  • Saying it originated in 1989 is like saying gravity originated in the 1600s with Newton, or like saying the idea of America originated with Columbus.

    I personally know people who heard variations on the "hygiene hypothesis" from doctors in the 70s, although maybe nobody managed to get it published until later. But anybody with a brain would have tossed variations on it around casually in conversation once they understood we could build up resistance to things. Contrary to the certainty of all of us today, t

  • *Thumb* sucking is good for kids. Ooops, the catholic church got it all wrong!

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Yes. I agree. You know what the saddest thing is though? There's all this discussion that 'oh kids have more allergies now because our homes are cleaner.' Absolutely not. I was born in the middle sixties and people had less stuff. Their houses had way less dirt than today. I'm guessing that one of the reasons why kids have more allergies is long chain molecules that outgas off of products produced in countries with lax manufacturing and environmental standards. There is perfume in EVERYTHING and the

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dcw3 ( 649211 )

        Kids aren't outside playing in the dirt nearly as much as in the 60s. My parents rarely knew where I was until they saw me come in for lunch or dinner back then. We didn't sit in front of a computer or Xbox all day, so in addition to the exposure, we were actually getting physical exercise.

        • I agree with you on that one. But I do wonder if they heterodyne; indoor air polluted with toxic scents and other things coupled with no exercise and no exposure to dirt etc.
    • However for many infections, such as the un-fun norovirus, a person's immunity is temporary, not permanent. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/artic... [cdc.gov] So the exposure to these agents does not result in a stronger immune system but does result in additional illnesses. How do we, then, clean off the nasty critters but keep the "good" ones?

  • A study done years ago suggested it gives the same benefits.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Just eat more dirt.
    --
    I was a beta tester for dirt. We never did get all the bugs out.

  • Study Shows Thumb-Sucking and Nail-Biting Can Be Good For Kids

    What about Adults?

  • If we bathe in mud and dirt we will be invincible!

  • Study Shows Sucking and Boot-Licking Pays off for Politicians

  • The study only says that kids who such thumb and bit may develop fewer allergies. This does not mean that there are no other side effects and it is overall good for them. The referenced article has a proper title, "Thumb Suckers and Nail Biters May Develop Fewer Allergies".

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