Eat More Dirt!
I fear I was a trifle harsh in my last post about the horrors of bacteria, and I feel it only fair in this post to present the other side, for fear of being branded a bacteria-phobe. Although lots of bacteria (especially 80 million of them) can't be too healthy, there is something to be said that we have gone too far in our obsession with cleanliness in the 21st century, at least in the Western world.
Some bacteria are good. Witness my daily yogurt. Good bacteria, keeps me regular and all that (too much information?) I have also always been a proponent of kids eating more dirt. I don't know why and I have had absolutely no scientific basis for this assertion. It just seems like the right thing to do on an intuitive level. I think we now keep our kids too clean, and they actually need to build up their defences to all kinds of nasty things during childhood.
Now it seems that intuition, yet again, mirrors scientific proof. I have found my proof. Seems that an innocuous little bacterium (nice one, hey Sarah?) called M Vaccae may provide all kinds of health benefits. It's often found in mud (hence the eat more dirt mantra being correct) and has been shown in studies to help fight off leprosy and even asthma.
In our uber-clean culture, we have become separated from the earth and alienated from our environment. In so doing, we've found that allergies have skyrocketed - I never thought I would live to see the day that peanut butter was banned in schools. Seems we're born with the hardware to fight off certain nasties (insert proper scientific term here) but we also need some software to run the damn machine. Our immune system needs to be educated as to the multitudinous bacteria that are out there, and then needs to make friends with the nice ones, and wage war on the bad ones. In other words, if we don't enlist in the course, we can't take the tests.
So listen up my friends with kids - or friends having kids in the near future - kids need to eat more dirt! I cannot say it more plainly than that. Oh, but when the little beggars are nice and dirty, please don't be offended if I am nowhere to be found. Been there, done that, passed all the appropriate tests.
I fear I was a trifle harsh in my last post about the horrors of bacteria, and I feel it only fair in this post to present the other side, for fear of being branded a bacteria-phobe. Although lots of bacteria (especially 80 million of them) can't be too healthy, there is something to be said that we have gone too far in our obsession with cleanliness in the 21st century, at least in the Western world.
Some bacteria are good. Witness my daily yogurt. Good bacteria, keeps me regular and all that (too much information?) I have also always been a proponent of kids eating more dirt. I don't know why and I have had absolutely no scientific basis for this assertion. It just seems like the right thing to do on an intuitive level. I think we now keep our kids too clean, and they actually need to build up their defences to all kinds of nasty things during childhood.
Now it seems that intuition, yet again, mirrors scientific proof. I have found my proof. Seems that an innocuous little bacterium (nice one, hey Sarah?) called M Vaccae may provide all kinds of health benefits. It's often found in mud (hence the eat more dirt mantra being correct) and has been shown in studies to help fight off leprosy and even asthma.
In our uber-clean culture, we have become separated from the earth and alienated from our environment. In so doing, we've found that allergies have skyrocketed - I never thought I would live to see the day that peanut butter was banned in schools. Seems we're born with the hardware to fight off certain nasties (insert proper scientific term here) but we also need some software to run the damn machine. Our immune system needs to be educated as to the multitudinous bacteria that are out there, and then needs to make friends with the nice ones, and wage war on the bad ones. In other words, if we don't enlist in the course, we can't take the tests.
So listen up my friends with kids - or friends having kids in the near future - kids need to eat more dirt! I cannot say it more plainly than that. Oh, but when the little beggars are nice and dirty, please don't be offended if I am nowhere to be found. Been there, done that, passed all the appropriate tests.
Comments
The same goes for our eating habits: Do you remember hearing about the peasants of old who ate whole-grain breads because the sophisticated "white bread" was reserved for the "upper crust" who could afford it? I wonder if that's why Wesley was the hero and Humperdink was such a fleeb...