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Perfect cleanliness in the house has a negative effect on children
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Scientists suspect that perfectly clean homes may have a negative impact on children's immune systems.
Over the past 20 years, the number of children in the UK who are allergic to nuts has doubled. Scientists decided to understand the reasons for this trend and found that the number of allergy sufferers has increased most sharply among representatives of the middle class. Researchers suggest that this fact may be one of the proofs of the theory that children from wealthy families have a weakened immune system due to cleanliness in the home. Thus, scientists came to the conclusion that parents obsessed with cleanliness can harm the health of their children.
The study involved 8,306 patients, 776 of whom had some form of nut allergy. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Lead author of the study, allergist Dr Sandy Yip, said: "Overall family income was associated with peanut allergen sensitisation only in children aged one to nine years. This may indicate that the development of peanut sensitisation at an early age is associated with family affluence, but increased sensitivity at other ages is not."
"While many children can develop immunity to various food allergens as they grow older, only 20 percent of children outgrow peanut allergies."
The latest study also found that in the UK nut allergies are more common among males and ethnic minorities.
Last year, a study by the Universities of Edinburgh and Maastricht found that 25,000 people in the UK were diagnosed with nut allergies between 2001 and 2005. It also found that children from wealthy families were twice as likely to have allergies as their peers from less affluent families.
Peanut allergens can cause breathing difficulties in allergy sufferers. There have been cases of death due to anaphylactic shock due to nut allergies.
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