Pregnant women who spend time on farms may help protect their newborn babies from developing allergies.
Researchers in Germany studied 18 women who lived on farms and 59 who didn't, and found that farm exposure affects the babies' regulatory T cells. These cells dampen immune responses, keeping the immune system in balance and helping it develop healthily.
"Babies of farm mothers have more regulatory T cells, which work better, especially when the mothers went into animal stables or drank farm milk," says Dr Bianca Schaub, who led the team at the University Children's Hospital in Munich. Regulatory T cells and related genes were clearly higher in the umbilical cord blood of babies whose mothers had spent time on farms.
"These findings support the idea that allergic diseases come from an imbalance between anti-allergic Th1 cells and pro-allergic Th2 cells," Dr Schaub says. "Regulatory T cells may prevent allergic responses at an early stage by suppressing Th2 cells." This may one day help researchers develop effective prevention, perhaps even a vaccine against allergic diseases. The study was presented at the American Thoracic Society's International Conference in Toronto in May 2008.
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