Asthma Study: Amish Farm Kids Have Lower Asthma, Allergy Risk

A recent study conducted by Dr. Mark Holbreich, an allergist reflect that children growing up in the Amish culture in Switzerland have significantly less asthma and allergies than Swiss children who didn’t grow up on a farm according to publish reports.

According to National Jewish Health Dr. Mark Holbreich began to offer free allergy clinics in the 1980s to the Amish community in Northern Indiana. “The Amish accept no insurance and live a life separate from the ‘outside world,'” said Dr. Holbreich. “They are committed to a traditional agrarian lifestyle and their faith.”

Dr. Holbreich noticed that the majority of the 20 to 30 patients who visited each clinic had no evidence of food or inhalant allergy, eczema, allergic rhinitis or asthma. Skin tests were often negative. His observations were different from the experience in his Indianapolis practice where most patients seeking advice have allergies.

Endotoxin Exposure

In 2000, Dr. Holbreich read National Jewish Health physician Dr. Andy Liu’s first observations on endotoxin exposure and allergy prevention. Amish have large families; children are in the barn and around farm animals from a very early age and drink unpasteurized milk. Dr. Holbreich wondered if the Amish community could be exemplifying the hygiene hypothesis. He contacted Dr. Liu and, in 2004, the two doctors together visited an Amish community. Their informal survey found no one with knowledge of any allergic individuals.

“I am grateful and appreciative of Dr. Holbreich’s willingness to share his experience,” said Dr. Liu. “While I came out of scientific interest, I left with a profound admiration for the Amish way of life. There may be benefits of the Amish lifestyle that go beyond early endotoxin exposure to account for the low incidence of atopy.”

Cooperation among former fellows and current faculty is a great strength of the National Jewish experience. Drs. Liu and Holbreich continue to work together on ways to further define the incidence of allergic disease in the Amish population and to explore what can be learned about prevention and well-being from this unique community.

MSU professor, physician to discuss exercised-induced asthma for SVSU speaker … – The Saginaw News – MLive.com


The Saginaw News – MLive.com

MSU professor, physician to discuss exercised-induced asthma for SVSU speaker
The Saginaw News – MLive.com
Dr. Robert Baker will help dispel myths of exercised-induced asthma at a talk at Saginaw Valley State University. Baker, director of the primary care sports medicine fellowship at the Michigan State University-Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies in

View full post on asthma – Google News

Religion Notes: Events taking place at Saginaw area churches – The Saginaw News – MLive.com

Religion Notes: Events taking place at Saginaw area churches
The Saginaw News – MLive.com
Take-outs available from 4 to 6 pm • Zion Missionary Baptist Church hosts a Health Fair focusing on allergies and asthma from 9:15 am to 1 pm at 721 Johnson in Saginaw. The event will include guest speaker Sam Connon, respiratory therapist,

and more »

View full post on asthma – Google News

Saginaw Zion Missionary Baptist Church hosts allergy, asthma health fair – The Saginaw News – MLive.com

Saginaw Zion Missionary Baptist Church hosts allergy, asthma health fair
The Saginaw News – MLive.com
From 9:15 am to 1 pm Saturday, there is an allergy and asthma health fair at Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 721 Johnson in Saginaw. Attendees can receive free cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure screenings. Vendors will be at the event,

View full post on asthma – Google News