Does modern society worsen allergies and
asthma? Ask the Amish
“The Amish
communities concentrated in America’s rust belt share many similarities with
other traditionalist sects, including the Hutterites, a group of Anabaptists
that live largely in Canada and in the northwestern United States. Both are
Christian groups that eschew most modern technology and make much of their
livelihood from farming. But they have a key difference: Amish families farm
traditionally, using hand-held or livestock-powered tools, while Hutterites use
modern farm implements.
And that appears to
make a crucial difference to their health: While less than 10 percent of Amish
schoolchildren have asthma and allergies, the prevalence in Hutterite children
is over 20 and 30 percent respectively.”Link to original study published in the New England Journal of Medicine
http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1508749