http://www.care2.com/greenliving/eating-dirt-embracing-germs.html
Eating Dirt, Embracing Germs
By Melissa Breyer, Senior Editor
When my kids were toddlers, one of my old-time Brooklyn neighbors said that we all need to eat a pound of dirt during our lives, which sounded somehow right to me. After all, I was an avid grubber in my childhood backyard and gave my older sisters no end of disgusted delight when I would eat dirt-crumbed slugs (I can only think I was channeling my French ancestors.) I’m sure I got my full pound of dirt in before the age of 3.
In the circle of moms I know, there are two types. There are the ones with the quick-draw, holstered hand-sanitizer and a zero-second rule for fallen snacks; and then there are the ones who with the two-second rule, or sometimes the three- or four-second rule, or heck, if no one’s looking, who cares how long the snack was on the floor–go ahead and eat it. It somehow feels wrong to let a kid pick something up off the ground and eat it, but why is it that so many kids instinctively put things in their mouths? Not just dropped crackers, but dirty twigs, germy toys, and slugs too! What could be the evolutionary advantage behind this instinct?
Well, in an article in The New York Times this week, reporter Jane E. Brody writes about the “hygiene hypothesis,” in which researchers are concluding that “the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with ‘dirt’ spur the development of a healthy immune system.”
Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor, and author of the book, “Why Dirt Is Good” (Kaplan), says that when kids put things in their mouths, “Not only does it allow for “practice” of immune responses, which will be necessary for protection, but it also plays a critical role in teaching the immature immune response what is best ignored.” She deplores the current fetish for the hundreds of antibacterial products that convey a false sense of security and may actually foster the development of antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing bacteria. Plain soap and water are all that are needed to become clean. “I certainly recommend washing your hands after using the bathroom, before eating, after changing a diaper, before and after handling food, and whenever they’re visibly soiled,” she wrote. When no running water is available and cleaning hands is essential, she suggests an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
It seems to me there has been such a wide swing of the spectrum–from the disease-thriving filth and squalor of centuries past to the obsession with cleanliness and hardcore hygiene that we see in industrialized countries today. Given the plagues and epidemics of our past it makes sense that we strive for sterile environments, but it looks possible that we’re swinging too far. Part of me wonders how much of that is due to marketing. In 2008, Americans spent over $5 billion on household cleaning products–imagine how much of that money went right back into advertising departments to dream and scheme new ways to subtly scare people into really needing those germ-slaughtering scrubbing bubbles and disinfecting sprays and wipes. Not to mention anti-bacterial soaps and other triclosan products.
As far as I can tell, the solution seems to be, as is so often the case, moderation and common sense. Wash your hands with plain soap and hot water, don’t let your kids eat things that seem blatantly dangerous (slugs: OK–but stay away from anything that has had contact with pesticides or chemicals), and start working on that pound of dirt.
For more on hazardous anti-bacterial compounds, see The Trouble with Triclosan in your Soap.
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21 comments
add your comment »Love the article and the responses! Have seen an article come in email that questions how we all have managed to live to the age we are - we didn't have to come in till the streetlights came on, ate mudpies, played in dirt, drank Kool-aid (lots of poisonous sugar there!) or ate popsicles made from same, and the greatest horror of all: we drank water out of the end of the hose! There was no health insurance back then - and we didn't get sick that often! Almost makes one want to look back and then look at the overload of information on how "dangerous" all things are anymore and go, "well, duh!!" LOL
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thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner
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Hear, hear to the eating of dirt, the celebration of good old American childhood filthiness! I was raised on a farm. We kids "cooked" and ate mudpies up at the wellhouse. We played in the "pies" of cows and other animals and probably ate some of them too. We took a bath on Sat. night and otherwise let stuff wear off naturally. The "5-second" rule was, at our house, "if it doesn't have crap visibly growing on it, it's probably OK to eat." Guess what? As an adult I've never had nor needed health insurance because I NEVER get sick, even when others around me are going down in flames. Coinkidink? I think not. I still rarely wash much. It wears out your skin. Cheers! Cindy Black
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Perhaps it is because places like the u.s.a. are so germ conscious that there ability to resist any bacteria and such is diminished greatly. Our bodies are built to fight infections and germs surely. I think we have reduced it's ability to do that. Speaking purely from a laypersons point of view of course. I'm no expert at all.
Cheers
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I agree that it's all marketing. However,you mention industrializes countries.I live in Europe, and there is no such obsession with anti-bacterial products.I have a friend that has visited me in Spain and she's always mentioning how food is left out,like the tapas in the bars(which are actually in refrigerated units).Well, I find it interesting that there have been numerous outbreaks of salmonella in the US lately, but not here.I also think Americans don't spend enough time outdoors.
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I have one son that is a so called "germ freak" would take as many showers a day he could if you him....constantly is washing his hands and cleaning up, he likes a very sterile environment.... and one son that is the complete opposite. And, I mean a complete opposite, Felix & Oscar if you will... The super clean child seems to constantly be "catching" something, while my "not so clean" son never gets sick.....Who knows? Surely I can't state that this is absolutely the reason why. I am sure there is alot more that goes into it, however, after 17 years of watching this unfold I won't completely discount that this could be part of it... Great Article!
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We have successfully created a near sterile society in our western world. In our development mentally and physically. I don't think we can go back to the good old days of children playing with each other and using their imaginations because parents who choose this way are critisised for allowing their children to get dirty or for their designer clothes to be worn for such occassions. They should be educating their children properly and preparing them for a world where the computer is all powerful and all consuming. Give me a break. There are sooooooooo many things I could say but I won't for fear of being critisised. By all means let us do the right thing and educate our children in a sterile environment where they interact with a thing (computer) in order to keep them from catching anything. Oh yay. what a wonderful world we live in. What are we doing to our future generations?
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It's an interesting fact that more and more of the most "advanced" methods comming out in the US among physicians are derived from "primative" cultures; who embrace rather then attempt to cure their intrinsic relationships with the natural world.
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There are two types of humans. Those that are bothered by stuff, and those that cannot be.
I suggest you do not elevate children's natural 'stupidity', meant strictly non- judgementally, to anything other than the realisation that the human animal for all it's complexity is almost totally 'unwritten' at birth. Most animals will follow their mothers by instinct. Human kids don't even recognise their moms, but for the nods and winks from their elders! Most animals know something of where to feed. Human-children have NO IDEA what to do and cannot move around to do it. Over time I realised we need years to learn to live. Our lives are way beyond that of animals, all of which does not make us better, but makes us different and fragile.
Please don't let your child go to school with that flu/cold/cough thing, in the lame excuse:
'well, everybody catches it... Yes, that's right, because a lot of parents cannot make alternative arrangements in their lives when the kid has got the snots, and therefore pass it on to others.
In Japan, they wear masks!
Please do not let your child grub around in the dirt like some animal. This is not instinct, this is ignorance, and mostly on the part of confused, well-meaning, whatever-class, semi-health educated mothers (& dads). Never mind experts!
It's been my experience to realise that kids do not have instincts in the same way as animals, but 'acquire' them over time. Why? Who knows. But I do know we need far more 'programming' to surviv
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Yeah, when I was a kid, it was definitely a peck of dirt - not a pound - and a peck is a huge basket. There are eight quarts in one peck, and four pecks in a bushel.
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