Pets might help prevent food allergies for children
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pets might help prevent food allergies, according to a new study that says pregnant women who live with pets have children with fewer allergies as long as those babies are also around the animals.
Scientists say more research is needed but a big study from Japan found babies who live with animals had a 13% to 16% lower risk of developing a food allergy.
"He's going to take care of my itches," Jediah said.
Three-year-old Jediah is excited to see the allergy doctor.
"It's a little nerve-wracking," mom Mary Shreve said. "There's always that fear when he goes to school if he picks something up."
Jediah's mom, Shreve, is hearing about new research that says infants who are around pets have a lower risk of developing food allergies.
"It can be fatal so if we can find any way to reduce it, I'm all for it," Shreve said.
Dr. Manav Segal with Chestnut Hill Allergy says it's a significant new study that covered 65,000 children. It showed that pregnant women who live with pets have children with fewer food allergies.
"This goes back to the hygiene hypothesis," Segal said.
He says being exposed to germs as infants is important for boosting the immune system which can prevent allergies.
"Having pets in the household may play a protective role," Segal said. "We were meant to be exposed to bacteria, viruses, parasites."
Eight percent of American children now have a food allergy and the numbers are going up.
"Food allergies are a huge huge problem," Segal said. "I would consider it an epidemic."
Dr. Segel is now treating some children with oral immunotherapy, exposing them to the items they're allergic to which eventually limits or eliminates the reactions.
Jediah's mom is hopeful the immunotherapy works for him but the new research on pets isn't true for her family. They've always had animals and her little boy has allergies anyway.
"That doesn't mean it's the silver bullet but I think we're finding there's a lot of different correlations which could be helpful," Shreve said.
So clearly pets aren't protective for everyone, but this study adds to a growing body of research that says animals aren't harmful to a child's immune system and previous studies have shown kids with pets have fewer seasonal allergies.