August 5, 2016.
The Amish are said to have developed a particular resistance to allergies that cause asthma. An American and British study has just revealed this phenomenon, which could pave the way for new treatments.
The Amish have developed specific antibodies
Amish communities, known for their traditional lifestyle and out of step with the modern world, develop fewer allergies than the rest of the world. Its members are notably less prone to asthma. This is what an American and British study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
To find this out, the researchers compared national statistics with the results of two surveys, one among Amish people living in Indiana and the other among Hutterites in South Dakota. These two traditional communities are similar in many ways, but their culture and animal husbandry is different, and this is what seems to be at the origin of this immune difference.
Towards promising new treatments?
By studying the dust of the dwellings of these two communities, the scientists noticed that “Amish” dust contained microbes from dairy cows, which is not the case with the Hutterites. Amish children, brought up in constant contact with this dust, would develop specific antibodies that would strengthen them in the face of asthma. Blood tests carried out on 30 children from each community then confirmed this hypothesis.
The figures bear witness to the benefits of these microbes, since only 5% of school-aged Amish have asthma, compared to 10% in the United States. ” We hope that our findings will allow the identification of relevant substances that will pave the way for new strategies to prevent asthma and allergies. », Indicated the authors of this study.
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