The Amish may be farming the cure for asthma in barnyard animals! [View all]

(If someone from the N Y Times see this I am not linking to your site because I cannot copy from your site. So I'll give the links to someone else's site!)

I had asthma as a kid. I also had a horse for a few years and felt so at home in the barn and I can't remember being sick then. I also dreamed of my family moving to a farm. Maybe my body knew something.
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"Amish children who’ve grown up exposed to barnyard germs have much lower rates of asthma than kids raised in more sterilized environments, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The science supports something our grandparents have long suspected: that playing in the dirt toughens kids up. The new research backs up this hygiene hypothesis, suggesting that Amish children inhale microbes from their constant contact with animals during their formative years, which activates their immune systems and protects them against asthma.


The researchers compared the Amish of Indiana to the Hutterites of North Dakota. Both farming groups share genetic backgrounds and simple lifestyles, but there’s a big difference in how they farm.

The Amish raise their barns — which their kids often play in — close to their homes. They use horses for farmwork and transportation, and they shun electricity. But the Hutterites use electricity and live on industrialized farms, with the cows housed in huge barns farther away from the houses that children don’t play in. And guess what? Only 2% to 4% of the Amish suffer from asthma, yet the Hutterites see asthma in 15% to 20% of their members."



http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/amish-farming-cure-asthma-barnyard-animals-article-1.2738543