"Key enzyme helps country kids ward off allergies and asthma"
The whole article relates to the phenomenon of "The Hygiene Hypothesis", the definition of this is " the hygiene hypothesis is a hypothesis that states that a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents, symbiotic microorganisms (e.g. gut flora or probiotics), and parasites increases susceptibility to allergic diseases by suppressing the natural development of the immune system."
This whole hypothesis is down to an enzyme within our bodies called A20, A20 is responsible for protecting the body against allergies, A20 when encountering endotoxins (on the surface of bacteria) it in a way registers microbes as harmless or harmful. If your enzymes don't know that a microbe is harmless the body will react to it causing an allergic reaction which if it has been exposed to and registered it would never have. The experiment to confirm this was done on mice and the allergy of dust mites found that mice with a normal exposure had no allergies whereas a lack of A20 enzyme did not have any effect on the mice. It also found the bacteria's endotoxin and A20 were both necessary for the immune system to not overreact to harmless microbes
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28129-key-enzyme-helps-country-kids-ward-off-allergies-and-asthma/ (article)
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427384-400-dirty-babies-get-healthier-hearts (related article)
This whole hypothesis is down to an enzyme within our bodies called A20, A20 is responsible for protecting the body against allergies, A20 when encountering endotoxins (on the surface of bacteria) it in a way registers microbes as harmless or harmful. If your enzymes don't know that a microbe is harmless the body will react to it causing an allergic reaction which if it has been exposed to and registered it would never have. The experiment to confirm this was done on mice and the allergy of dust mites found that mice with a normal exposure had no allergies whereas a lack of A20 enzyme did not have any effect on the mice. It also found the bacteria's endotoxin and A20 were both necessary for the immune system to not overreact to harmless microbes
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28129-key-enzyme-helps-country-kids-ward-off-allergies-and-asthma/ (article)
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427384-400-dirty-babies-get-healthier-hearts (related article)