Posted on 05/04/2012 10:07:46 PM PDT by neverdem
Amish children raised on rural farms in northern Indiana suffer from asthma and allergies less often even than Swiss farm kids, a group known to be relatively free from allergies, according to a new study.
"The rates are very, very low," said Dr. Mark Holbreich, the study's lead author. "So there's something that we feel is even more protective in the Amish" than in European farming communities.
What it is about growing up on farms -- and Amish farms in particular -- that seems to prevent allergies remains unclear.
Researchers have long observed the so-called "farm effect" -- the low allergy and asthma rates found among kids raised on farms -- in central Europe, but less is known about the influence of growing up on North American farms.
Holbreich, an allergist in Indianapolis, has been treating Amish communities in Indiana for two decades, but he noticed that very few Amish actually had any allergies.
As studies on the farm effect in Europe began to emerge several years ago, Holbreich wondered if the same phenomenon might be found in the United States.
He teamed up with European colleagues to compare Swiss farming children and non-farming children to Amish kids in Indiana.
Amish families, who can trace their roots back to Switzerland, typically farm using methods from the 1800s and they don't own cars or televisions.
The researchers surveyed 157 Amish families, about 3,000 Swiss farming families, and close to 11,000 Swiss families who did not live on a farm -- all with children between the ages of six and 12.
They found that just five percent of Amish kids had been diagnosed with asthma, compared to 6.8 percent of Swiss farm kids and 11.2 percent of the other Swiss children.
Similarly, among 138 Amish kids given a skin-prick test to determine...
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online April 16, 2012. "Amish children living in Northern Indiana have a very low prevalence of allergic sensitization" no abstract
I was raised on an Iowa farm and never had allergies until I moved to the city.
likely because they drink unpasteurized milk.
It’s very obvious, the Amish follow the “three second rule”. And they do it on a Farm...
“Holbreich, an allergist in Indianapolis, has been treating Amish communities in Indiana for two decades, but he noticed that very few Amish actually had any allergies.”
So, how many years did it take Dr. Holbreich to notice that he had no patients?
They also eat very little commercially processed foods.
The adaptability of the human body is a remarkable thing.
I’d wager that suburbia, with its gazillions of non-native plants from all over the world, is a hotbed of unfamiliar pollens.
300 years of evolution. The Amish don’t have a leisure class.
they do like hot dogs tho
http://amishamerica.com/what-do-amish-eat/
it is probably the exercise and raw milk - you can’t say they are sheltered from the outside world of germs (especially if they eat hot dogs)
I think most (like me) are fascinated by the fact that they are self sufficient and peaceful
There’s one reason. Food additatives and bio-engineering of seeds. Texas A&M grew a maroon carrot and a maroon blue bonnet flower. This crap ain’t normal and it’s changing our systems. I grew up without A/C which meant we slept with the windows open. We didn’t know what allergies were.
Did they compare non-Amish American farm kids to the Amish or the Swiss? That would help.
not
And I forgot about bio-engineering of meat, poultry and fish. Before long you can buy your cow fat, lean or extra lean. And you’ll be able to buy your fish with tartar sauce already grown in.
Go to the store and buy some eggs. Some have more omega3 than others. How the hell does that happen? Does the chicken farmer go buy chickens and say “I want some of the omega3 chickens. I know they cost more but I can charge more for the eggs.”
A lot of you are buying the crapola served up by the food police crowd.
Cook balanced meals from scratch. Not much else to worry about.
I would also hazard a guess that they don’t have wall to wall carpeting full of decaying detritus and the teeny vermin that feed upon it.
Nor do they live in overheated and overcooled little boxes stacked like cargo containers that are so over insulated in the name of energy efficiency that there is virtually no air movement except that pushed by fan motors through filters that are not cleaned regularly enough.
Bare floors, fresh air and playing in the dirt is a sweet combination for healthy living.
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