SAN ANTONIO — As a parent having a healthy child is often the top priority. In this Verify KENS 5 we find out that shoes may not always be a child's best friend.
Our society is filled with various ways to help keep kids from getting sick. But not all of them we practice are actually beneficial to the child.
THE QUESTION
Is it true that if kids are barefoot outside that it strengthens their immune system?
THE SOURCES
- Dr. Amanda Trott-Gregorio, a board certified allergist and immunologist with Juniper Allergy
- A study published in the journal Science Advances
THE ANSWER
TRUE
WHAT WE FOUND
Dr. Trott-Gregorio told us it is true and it has to do with the hygiene hypothesis. She said, "We've just become too clean as a culture and our immune systems are bored, and so they have to find something to do. So they're overreacting to normal things in our environment, which are allergens."
She also says we are protecting our children's health a little too much.
"And so that's a big reason that why we've seen so many immune systems shift to being so allergic rather than being busy fighting off infections," Dr. Trott-Gregorio added.
In the study published in Science Advances, researchers from Finland studied 75 children at 10 daycare centers. Kids spent about 90 minutes outside each day over the 28-day study.
In the journal it said, "The results showed that children from the intervention day cares experienced a higher ratio of anti-inflammatory immune system proteins to pro-inflammatory proteins, which resembled what was found in kids at the nature-oriented day cares, along with a higher diversity of microorganisms on their skin."
So yes, it is true. If kids are barefoot outside it will strengthen their immune system.
Dr. Trott-Gregorio also told us it is important for the child to be in a natural environment including dirt, from the second they come home from the hospital after birth.