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[Melody Oliphant <melody AT feedngrow.com>]

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.
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