BREAKING NEWS...Study Suggests Pets May Actually Prevent Allergies in Children

Every since I can remember the story always went that if you had allergies, having pets was usually not a good idea. The increased dander, exposure to multiple allergens and the close contact of people and their pets was thought to make a difficult medical situation worse. But that thought process may be changing.

Multiple studies in Europe have shown that children exposed to pets when very young may actually be less likely to develop allergies later in life, including allergies to pets, dust mites, grasses and pollens. And now, for the first time, a study conducted in the United States seems to draw the same conclusion. The study was conducted by the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, and presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's annual meeting.

Seven hundred and twenty four (724) pregnant women were recruited for the study, and their infants were followed until they were seven years of age. At the end of the seven years, over 500 of the children were still participants in the study. Researchers followed the immunoglobulin E levels, measuring the antibody that is involved in allergic reactions. They concluded that children who lived in homes with one or more pets were no more likely, and in some cases, less likely, to react to allergens than those living in pet-free environments.

No conclusions were drawn as to why this occurred, and researchers were quick to point out that historical studies have shown different results. But everyone agreed that exposure to allergens during the first year of life has, along with heredity, a profound influence on the risk for allergies later on. The question now is: does exposure to cats and dogs INCREASE this risk or, as this study showed, DECREASE it?

Stay tuned. I will try to keep you updated as the debate continues.

As always, I'm happy to help your pets...and their people, too.

Dr. Larry