Dishwashers just too clean?

Modern dishwashers also often include an increasing number of high-tech features that are just better at cleaning than we are - the design of the racks, the spray of the water jets and other aspects have been tailored to improve performance.

Modern dishwashers also often include an increasing number of high-tech features that are just better at cleaning than we are - the design of the racks, the spray of the water jets and other aspects have been tailored to improve performance.

Published Feb 27, 2015

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London – They may be quick, convenient, and leave your dishes sparkling – but using a dishwasher could be affecting your child’s health.

Researchers found that children whose families washed dishes by hand were less likely to develop eczema and asthma than those who used machines.

This is because hand-washing dishes is not as effective in reducing bacteria on crockery and cutlery than dishwashers, and so those children are likely to be exposed to more germs.

The results lend support to the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ – the theory that early exposure to many different types of germs keeps our immune system working properly, while growing up in a squeaky clean environment can increase the risk of allergies and autoimmune conditions.

The Swedish scientists also found that the risk of developing an allergy was further reduced if the child also ate fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, or produce that had been bought directly from a farm.

This is because fermentation is caused by bacteria, and food that has not been industrially processed may also have higher levels of microbes. The researchers, from the University of Gothenburg, analysed data from questionnaires completed by the parents of 1,029 children aged between seven and eight from two Swedish towns.

The surveys asked about allergies and lifestyle, including whether their child had ever suffered from asthma or eczema, how often they fed their child fermented foods, and how often they fed their child home-cooked food during their first year of life.

They found that 38 percent of the children whose parents usually used a dishwasher had suffered from eczema, compared to 23 percent in homes where the dishes were washed by hand.

For asthma, the figures were 7.3 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Even after accounting for other factors that could have influenced the figures, those who lived in homes where dishes were hand-washed were still significantly less likely to have an allergy.

Writing in the journal Pediatrics, the researchers concluded: ‘We speculate that these lifestyle factors reduce allergy development via increased or more diverse microbial exposure, stimulating the immune system to develop in a more tolerant direction.’

 

Daily Mail

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