Wearing outdoor shoes could reduce childhood asthma, study says
Some of us might remember our grandparents’ raised voices reminding us to take our shoes off at the door each time we visited.
The thought of trailing dirt around a seemingly clean house might make you shudder a little.
But what if wearing shoes in the house could help prevent asthma in young children?
It comes as a new study from the National Institute of Health and Welfare in Finland has found that wearing outside shoes inside the home might just contribute to countering the effects of asthma on young children.
Researchers from the National Institute of Health and Welfare in Finland analysed the range of bacteria in 1,400 homes in Finland and Germany.
Professor Juha Pekkanen said: ‘It is interesting to see how clear of a protective effect indoor microbiota can have against the development of asthma.’
His colleague, senior researcher at Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, Pirkka Kirjavainen, found that the presence of farm-like microbiota in an early-life home (a home with young children) seemed to also protect them from asthma in urban homes.
The study found that these microbiota in homes protecting from asthma contained a wealth of bacteria typical of the outdoor environment, including the bacteria in the soil.
Pirkka said: ‘We now discovered that the presence of farm-like microbiota in an early-life home seemed to protect from asthma also in urban homes.
‘The effect was not based on the presence of a large number of different microbial species but rather differences in the relative abundance of certain bacterial groups.’
Being exposed to the farm-like microbiota in urban areas is typically hard to come by, so the idea is to try to expose the home to these bacteria by keeping outdoor shoes on and as a result seeing a reduction in asthma in children.
They also found children with more siblings were also less likely to get asthma.
Exposure to greater numbers of bacteria species which usually belonged outdoors made children’s lungs healthier.
The new study supports the view that children’s early exposure to ‘right cocktail’ of microbes may help their bodies to develop mechanisms protecting from asthma.
Pekkanen said: ‘The results suggest that asthma could be prevented in the future by modifying children’s early microbial exposures.’
Around 5.4million people in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma with the breakdown being 1.1 million children (1 in 11) and 4.3 million adults (1 in 12).
The rate of asthma deaths in the UK has increased by more than 20 per cent in five years, with figures showing 1,434 people died from an asthma attack.
The new study supports the view that children’s early exposure to ‘right cocktail’ of microbes may help their bodies to develop mechanisms protecting from asthma.
Although the condition can normally be controlled with medication, sufferers live at risk of having potentially deadly attacks.
The condition is caused by swelling in the tubes which carry air into and out of the lungs.
Allergies, smoke and pollution, exercise and colds or flu may trigger the condition.
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