6 DISGUSTING Things Every 70s Kid Did — and Never Got Allergies

70s kids drank from the garden hose, ate off the floor, shared one bottle with the whole street, and almost none of them had food allergies. Today it's about 1 child in 13, roughly 2 in every classroom. This video walks through 6 disgusting things every 70s kid did and what all that dirt was quietly doing for their immune systems, from the 1989 hay fever study that started the hygiene hypothesis to the Amish farm children with a fraction of the asthma and allergy of their genetic cousins. Stay to the end for the six-word rule, and four things a family can still choose to do today. This is information, not medical advice. If a child already has a diagnosed allergy, none of this applies to them, and early peanut introduction is something to do with a doctor's guidance. Every study is linked below. SOURCES About 1 in 13 US children has a food allergy (survey of 38,408 children) Gupta RS et al. Pediatrics 2018 — https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-1235 US childhood peanut allergy more than tripled, 1997 to 2008 Sicherer SH et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2010 — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2010.03.029 The 1989 study that began the hygiene hypothesis: more older siblings, less hay fever Strachan DP. BMJ 1989 — https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.299.6710.1259 Amish vs Hutterite children: asthma 5% vs 21%, allergic sensitization 7% vs 33%, house dust with about 7 times the microbial load Stein MM, Ober C et al. New England Journal of Medicine 2016 — https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1508749 Dogs in the home and lower childhood asthma (Swedish national registry) Fall T et al. JAMA Pediatrics 2015 — https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.3470 Early peanut introduction cut peanut allergy by about 80% in high-risk infants (LEAP trial) Du Toit G et al. New England Journal of Medicine 2015 — https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1414850 Current US guidance on early peanut introduction NIAID Addendum Guidelines 2017 — https://www.niaid.nih.gov/sites/default/files/addendum-peanut-allergy-prevention-guidelines.pdf What this video does not claim: that dirt alone explains the rise in allergies, or that clean water, sewers and vaccines were anything other than the reason children stopped dying. The link between early microbial exposure and allergy is well supported but still being worked out, and the soil-microbe research on mood and immunity is early. #1970s #GrowingUpInThe70s #FoodAllergies