Children raised in rural environments who spend a lot of time outdoors with some exposure to animals grow to have better regulated immune systems than children living in urban environments, a new study has found.
Research led by APC Microbiome Ireland (APC), a world-leading SFI research centre and University College Cork (UCC), has shown that early life immune development is highly dependent on a child’s living environment and lifestyle factors. Researchers say that the immune system needs to learn how not to over-respond in early life in order to avoid excessive damaging reactions later in life that can lead to disease.
The study examined how environmental factors are linked with the presence of atopic dermatitis (AD) or eczema across South African children aged between 15 – 35 months living in rural and urban areas.
Researchers found that the immune systems of children living in rural areas possess several ways of identifying and dealing with threats. Multiple immune pathways are developed in response to early life protective exposures, such as time spent outdoors and time with animals, and potentially detrimental exposures, such as pollutants and virus infections.
The study also investigated other factors including birth mode and income levels. Rural children were less frequently born via c-section and rural families had lower income levels, compared to urban families in this cohort. However, while these differences were