April 10, 2017.
According to an American study published in the journal Microbiome, growing up with pets would reduce the risk of childhood obesity but also the development of allergies.
The presence of two particular microbes in the intestine
What if to fight against the first signs of obesity in children it was enough to have a dog? According to a study carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada, dogs would indeed allow rsignificantly reduce the risk of allergies but also obesity in children. But how to explain such a phenomenon? Animals are said to allow children to come into contact with certain bacteria.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed the stools of nearly 750 babies, from 2009 to 2012, and found that babies who were in contact with a dog during the first months of their life had higher levels of gut bacteria. The authors of this study notably observed the presence of two microbes in the intestine (Ruminococcus and Oscillospira) which play an important role in the prevention of allergies and obesity.
An exhibition in utero to dogs is enough to protect babies
It would appear that contact with these bacteria allow the child to strengthen his immune system even when he is in his mother’s womb. Newborns who had, during the experiment, been in contact with a dog, only during their mother’s pregnancy, had these two bacteria in their stool after birth.
” The presence of these bacteria is doubled when there is a pet in the house Explains Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj, a pediatric epidemiologist at the University of Alberta who led this work. According to her, it would be interesting to design treatments containing the bacteria Ruminococcus and Oscillospira in order to best prevent the risks of allergies and obesity during childhood.
Read also: Symptoms and people at risk of obesity
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