Green living environment protects against allergy, or does it?. Issue 6 (22nd June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ruokolainen, Lasse
• Is Part Of: European respiratory journal. Volume 49:Issue 6(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-06-22
• Subjects: Respiratory organs -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Respiration -- Periodicals; 616.2
• DOI: 10.1183/13993003.00481-2017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0903-1936

Abstract

Increasing human populations impose enormous pressure on natural habitats. For example, forests around the world are being converted into timber, pastures, croplands and settlements. To put the rate of deforestation into context, an area equivalent of ∼50 football fields is destroyed every minute [1]. While this development is one of the most important threats to biological diversity, human health is also at stake. In 2011, it was suggested that the global loss of biodiversity might be related to the parallel increase in the incidence of inflammatory disorders [2]. This gave rise to the biodiversity hypothesis of allergic disease [3] proposing that contact with natural environments enriches the human microbiome, promotes immune balance and protects from inflammatory disorders. The biodiversity hypothesis enlarges the Old Friends mechanism, emphasising the co-evolutionary history between humans and immunoregulatory microbes [4]. We need more direct and accurate measures to assess the quality and amount of environmental exposure http://ow.ly/McGd30c4Aww