Thursday
03Jan
Dirt is Good
Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 10:00AM 
A recent article in U.S. News and World Report Magazines echoes something we wrote about a while back - that our increasingly germophobic society may be making itself sicker by our relentless obsessions with being "germ and dirt -free". According to the article, bacteria that routinely inhabit our bodies actually produce vitamins and proteins our bodies need to make our immune and gastrointestinal systems work properly. Overuse of antibiotics, even overuse of antibacterial soaps can cause resistant bacteria. Think of it this way - you are killing all the weak germs but allowing those germs that are stronger to live, and to multiply. The article concludes: let your children play in the dirt! An overly hygenic infancy can cause asthma, type 2 diabetes, dermatitis and Crohn's disease. So let your kids be kids. A dirty kid is a healthy kid!References (1)
References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
-
Response: crohns diseaseI was fortunate. My physician did talk about diet. But he recommended a bland diet with little fiber. For someone who enjoyed salads as a meal, this was a bummer. But I? ve found that high fiber, fats, and, as you say, sugars, do tend to trigger symptoms so I avoid ...
Reader Comments