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Noise Pollution, Quantum Light, Pets & Food Allergies

Curiosity Weekly

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The Effects of Pet Ownership on Food Allergies

Researchers from Fukushima Regional Center in Japan wanted to see if they could find one. The Fukushima team analyzed data from 66,215 plus infants. 22% of them were around pet cats or dogs either in utero or as a small infant. It was pretty quickly discovered that virtually all children who were exposed to indoor dogs or cats had a huge reduction in food allergies. But how? I don't get how having a pet would make a food allergy less likely. Nobody knows. As of right now, we can't actually prove that it was the cats or dogs themselves, rather than something separate, like pet owner or infant-related behavior.

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