The hygiene hypothesis is also sometimes referred to as the biome depletion theory, or the “old friends” theory, is a hypothesis that states that the cause of allergic disease may be immune intolerance resulting from inadequate exposure to parasites and microbes in childhood.
Over time, the immune system in humans weakens making older adults more prone to infections. This leaves researchers with the puzzling dilemma of retaining health throughout the lifespan.
For more than three decades, food allergies have been rising drastically across the developed world.
University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have added fresh evidence that early exposure to vaccine-, bacterial- or microbiota-derived antigens has a dramatic effect on the diversity of antibodies an adult mammal will have to fight future infections by pathogens.