According to new research, Swedish children who have dogs in their homes have a significantly lower risk of developing asthma at age 6. And this reduced risk was also seen in children whose parents had asthma. The researchers also found that children who had regular contact with farm animals at age 1 were 52 percent less likely to develop asthma at age 6. Children who had long-term exposure to farm animals at age 1 had a 31 percent lower risk of developing asthma between the ages of 1 and 5. The study was published in JAMA Pediatrics. In the study, the researchers looked at data from the Swedish national patient registry for asthma diagnosis. They also analyzed data on medications prescribed by Swedish pharmacies for asthma treatment. The researchers also asked the children’s parents about their experiences of living with a pet dog and farm through a questionnaire. Data from January 2007 to September 2012 were covered in the study, which involved the health records of 650,000 children. The researchers say they don’t know know exactly how to explain the association between early exposure to animals and a reduced risk of asthma. The researchers believe it may be due to a single factor that led to the reduced risk of asthma. Or more likely, the lifestyle of families with pet dogs and the environment in which they lived led to a reduced risk of asthma. For example, children are exposed to multiple factors such as household dust and dust from pets, as well as with spending time outdoors interacting with animals. Families with dogs are unlikely to clean everything very well, and perhaps this is a good thing for the future health of their babies. Currently, one of the main hypotheses that seeks to explain the link between a lower risk of asthma and early exposure to pets is that in the presence of an animal environment, the air a child breathes contains more bacteria and bacterial debris, which can actually reduce the risk of asthma. And, a growing body of research supports the idea that early animal exposure can also help children build better immune systems and be less likely to develop asthma and allergies. Exposure to certain bacterial environments, then, early in life is clearly beneficial in forming a healthy immune system. Although there are genetic effects of asthma and allergies, having a dog family can reduce the risk of asthma and allergies for children. And more and more research tells us that there is a strong correlation between the environment and human health, especially the development of the immune system. Perhaps the saying “if you don’t eat it, you don’t get sick” is not entirely without scientific basis.