A new study in Sweden has shown dog ownership to reduce the chance of asthma in children, more reasons to share your life with a dog.
We featured a post recently highlighting a study proving that sharing your life with a dog can increase your lifespan, we have just heard about a new study showing that dog ownership can reduce the risk of asthma.
The study at the Uppsala University in Sweden looked at the rate of asthma of 377,000 preschool and 276,000 school aged children and correlated this to whether the child grew up with a dog in the close family.
It was shown that children with close contact to dogs had a 13% less risk of asthma compared to those with no frequent dog contact.
There is no answer as yet why dog ownership reduces the risk of asthma, associate professor Tove Fall said of the study
“It might be due to a single factor, or more likely, a combination of several factors related to a dog ownership lifestyle or dog-owners’ attitudes, such as kids’ exposure to household dirt and pet dust, time spent outdoors or being physically active.
“As a parent in a dog-and-baby-household, it is nearly impossible to keep everything clean, and maybe this is a good thing for your baby’s future health.
Currently, one of the main hypotheses that aim to explain the link between a lower risk of asthma and early exposure to pets is that “kids in animal environments breathe air that contains more bacteria and bacterial fragments, which actually could lower their risk of asthma.”
So there you go, dogs can not only help you live longer, but also live healthier from an early age. Your local dog rescue centre is waiting for you 😀
