Britain tops the international league table for allergies

[Upwind]

"...an international study of asthma and allergies in childhood published in the Lancet showed that 47 per cent of UK children ? 3.5million ? suffer from some form of allergy and Britain tops the international league table for allergies.

The study's lead author, Professor Innes Asher, of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, blamed diet, air pollution and excessive cleanliness for the epidemic."

from the telegraph

So what can we do to make our dcs less likely to have allergies? What is wrong with the UK diet, too much processed food? If air pollution is causing such serious problems what can be done to reduce it?

Katsma - I think that cleanliness is entirely down to the individual family. I don't recognise myself/my household in any of the description you make of modern housework practices .

Personally I think that widespread use of dishwashers, washing machines, efficient vacuum cleaners, modern cleaning products, throwaway clothes etc makes housework much easier and my house (and family) is a lot more hygienic than the houses I knew in my childhood.

I really don't go a long with the cleanliness theory at all. I was brought up in a an old dusty house full of cats and dogs [and riven with mice] and rabbits outside with hutches i had to clean and I developed very bad asthma at around 8. read that one recent study thought it was the cleaning products used that could trigger asthma, not the cleanliness itself.

Chankins the report about breastfeeding not reducing incidence of allergies was a study done of women and babies in Belarus, one of the most contaminated areas in the world, so I'm not sure how representative it is. There are going to be an awful lot more auto immune problems over there.

I firmly believe trying to reduce exposure to dust mites is the best way to avoid triggering asthma [washing at high temps, wrapping bedding in dust mite proof covers, hard wood floors, etc] And cutting down on air pollution. Whenever i go to mountainous areas my asthma disappears.