HWN Suggests

Have we become too clean?

The prevalence of helminths – harmless minute parasitic worms – in our population has been drastically decreasing since the middle of the 20th century. Historically, humans co-existed with these creatures in what researchers are now coming to believe to be an essential immune regulatory relationship. Scientists wonder if we have become too hygienic, removing natural harmless species that may, in fact, form a pivotal role in our health.

The ‘too clean’ theory has arisen in part due to the correlation between exposure to worms from childhood in less developed parts of the world and the corresponding low incidence of inflammatory bowel disease. However, in the hygienically focused developed…

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