Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Farm animals healthy

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Melody Oliphant <melody AT feedngrow.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Farm animals healthy
  • Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:50:48 -0600

I wonder, too, if it is a lifestyle thing, not just an exposure to farm animals. It seems likely that most of the children who are in contact with farm animals during infancy would be farm dwellers, not just farm visitors. I know that when we lived on our farm we ate different that we typically do here in town simply because our life was a slower pace and we ate more of what we grew rather than what we buy now at the store. Another consideration is city/county/public water as compared to well/spring water.
A couple of years after moving to town and drinking its water and eating the fruits of other's labors I got severe reflux which had and is still narrowing my esophagus (I found out just how severe when I had to go to the hospital with a piece of steak stuck in my esophagus - I could breath fine but the steak was stuck. As a funny side note, it was a steak my ex-husband had grilled and sent home for DH & me. When I told my brother he laughed and said maybe he should grill some steak for his ex-wife, too. :-) )
In any case, I agree that farm living is better for one's health (in all ways!) than city dwelling.

Best wishes,
Melody

Wendy wrote:
I always felt that exposure to animals was good for children, but I meant
emotionally.

Wendy

Early exposure to farm animals lowers IBD risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Infants who are regularly exposed to farm animals appear to be less likely than others to develop inflammatory bowel disease in childhood, according to the findings of a German study published in the journal Pediatrics.
"Approximately 12,000 children and adolescents in Germany suffer from inflammatory
bowel disease (IBD)," write Dr. Katja Radon and colleagues at
Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich. The recent increase in Crohn's disease, a type
of inflammatory bowel disease, especially in industrialized countries, and its
pronounced geographical variation, suggest that environmental factors contribute this
condition.

The researchers examined the association between contact with farm animals in infancy
and the development of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis in childhood. Data were
analyzed for 748 IBD cases (444 with Crohn's disease and 304 with ulcerative colitis)
and 1,481 healthy "control" children.

The children with IBD were more likely than the control children to live in
urban areas. Regular contact with farm animals during the first year of life
was inversely associated with IBD, the investigators report.

Specifically, the children with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis were
about 50 percent less likely to have regular contact with farm animals in
infancy compared with the healthy children.

"The results of this study indicate that farm animal contact during infancy, one
of the major factors protecting individuals against childhood allergies, might also
decrease the risk of juvenile IBD," Radon's team concludes. The findings also
support the hypothesis that allergic diseases and IBD might have similar paths of
development.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, August 2007.
_______________________________________________
Homestead list and subscription:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
Change your homestead list member options:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/melody%40feedngrow.com
View the archives at:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page