Contrary to popular belief, a new study suggests that one of the leading causes of asthma is excessive housekeeping.
According to research from the University of British Columbia, children at high risk for asthma lack important intestinal bacteria in their first months of life due to growing up in overly clean environments.
Although scientists so far have no definitive answer on the causes of asthma, the finding published in the journal Science Translational Medicine identified for the first time four specific bacteria that appear to be involved in the development of an immune system that protects the body from asthma.
Cleaning without exaggeration
According to the study authors, their discovery helps to understand why there are more children with asthma in developed countries. “This research supports the hygiene hypothesis that we are making our environment too clean,” said study co-author Brett Finlay, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of British Columbia.
Asthma cases have increased markedly since the 1950s, particularly in western countries where more than 20% of children suffer from this chronic disease that produces wheezing, coughing, and difficulty breathing.
However, this condition has increased in a lower proportion in developing countries, where there is no obsession with hygiene that limits too much the exposure of babies to bacteria that can help in having an immune system. stronger.
The Canadian scientists’ finding also opens the door to the search for probiotic treatments for babies with the aim of preventing asthma, as well as the creation of a test to predict which children are most at risk of suffering from it.
“It gives us new ways to prevent this life-threatening disease for many children. The work shows that we have a short period of time, a window of perhaps 100 days, to intervene therapeutically and protect babies,” stressed the Pediatric immunologist Stuart Turvey, the other author of the study.
In addition to bacteria, this difference is believed to be explained by various environmental factors and the pitfalls of modern life: developed countries have higher rates of cesarean births, babies are fed more supplements than breast milk, and too many are consumed antibiotics, the specialists exemplified in a statement.
Although it is not yet clear how children acquire the four identified bacteria, research “shows that they play an important role in asthma, although this occurs early in life, when the baby’s immune system is developing. “Finlay said.