Why Hutterite Children Get Asthma 4 Times More Often

Why do Hutterite children have asthma at roughly four times the rate of Amish children, even though the two communities share similar ancestry, diets, large families, and farming traditions? Scientists studying Amish and Hutterite children discovered that the answer may have less to do with genetics and more to do with the way children are exposed to barns, animals, and farm dust. In this video, Andreas Wurz looks at decades of research into Hutterite communities — from fertility and genetics to mental health and one of the strangest discoveries of all: why modern farming may have unintentionally changed the immune systems of Hutterite children. Researchers found that Amish children were exposed to far more microbial material from animals and barns, while Hutterite children living on highly mechanized farms had much less of that exposure. The difference was so striking that researchers were even able to reproduce the protective effect using Amish house dust in laboratory experiments. The most uncomfortable part of the story is that the very machines that made colony farming safer and more efficient may also have moved children farther away from the environment that once helped protect them. Subscribe for more stories about Hutterite life, history, traditions, and the surprising research that has been done on these communities.