<\/p>\n
It has been observed for many years that living on a farm reduces the risk for children to develop allergies and asthma. To better understand this protective effect, researchers at the University of Munich conducted a study of thousands of children from birth to age 6.<\/p>\n
It turns out that a major protective factor was the consumption of unprocessed cow\u2019s milk, as opposed to pasteurized milk.<\/p>\n
Before addressing the milk issue, readers should know that growing up on a farm lessens the chance for allergies in general. This benefit is felt to be part of the hygiene hypothesis of allergy; that is, city dwellers who grow up in a \u201cclean environment\u201d have idle immune systems which allow the immune system to get into \u201callergic mischief.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farm children are exposed to a variety of animals, manure and dirt which keeps the immune system occupied and less likely to go into allergic mode.<\/p>\n
The hygiene issue aside, farm children who drank boiled or pasteurized milk were not as \u201cprotected\u201d from allergy as their young farm friends who drank raw milk.<\/p>\n
As it turns out, the difference is that pasteurization reduces polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) that are protective. These same PUFAs are dietary precursors for natural anti-inflammatory mediators made by our immune systems.<\/p>\n
Children with high PUFA intake make lots of these natural anti-inflammatory molecules and benefit from the protection against allergic\/asthmatic inflammation.<\/p>\n
Raw milk is available from local cattle ranchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has been observed for many years that living on a farm reduces the risk for children to develop allergies and asthma. To better understand this protective effect, researchers at the University of Munich conducted a study of thousands of children from birth to age 6. It turns out that a major protective factor was the consumption of unprocessed cow\u2019s milk, as opposed to pasteurized milk. Before addressing the milk issue, readers should know that growing up on a…<\/p>\n