A few days ago we told you that an environment too sterile seemed not to be suitable for babies. A new study comes to say something similar, and it is that some researchers decided that it was a good idea to compare the health of children whose parents wash the dishes by hand or in a dishwasher.
It is a study that a priori may seem strange, but in the end has the same intention as the previous ones: see what happens to children when the environment in which they live is cleaner. Well, the conclusion may be contrary to what many would recommend, and that is for children's health it is better to wash the dishes by hand than with the dishwasher.
The dishwasher, that savior
The truth is that I have been using a dishwasher for several years and, honestly, it is one of those appliances that save your life in a way, because you earn a lot of time at home. It is no longer necessary to lather, rinse and let dry (or actively dry) because from there they leave clean and almost dry. In addition, many parents had the peace of mind that they came out clean enough not to pose a problem for children.
However, big mistake, it seems that they come out so clean that in the end it is a detriment. In the study I commented, with 1,029 Swedish children between 7 and 8 years old, they saw that there was a connection between the development of allergies and the use of dishwashers.
They found that children whose parents wash the dishes in a dishwasher suffer more allergies than children whose parents wash the dishes by hand. The reason, according to the researchers, is that they are children who are exposed to more microbes (the dishes are not so clean) and this causes a greater tolerance. Come on, that your immune systems are activated more, learn to live with them, or fight them and this stimulates the production of antibodies that limit the risk of allergies.
In addition, they saw that in cases where children ate fermented foods, or bought directly from a farm, the risk of allergy also decreased. That is, so much that we have always worried about the hygiene of what we buy and eat and it seems that when they have more microbes there are less allergies. Now, of course, let's not become all careless and go to the other extreme, that hygiene has saved us from many terrible diseases. The issue is to find the right point, the balance, in which we do not run absurd risks, but without reaching absolute hygiene.
