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There is no one solution to preventing food allergies in children. Some allergies are inherited, some are acquired whilst others seem to have no apparent causes. Inherited allergies are not as common as most people think. Just because mom or dad have an allergy doesn't mean their children will. Acquired allergies are also hit and miss - for example, shellfish allergies can strike adults who have eaten these products with no problems for years - the cause is thought to be a bad protein in chicken. In reality, the majority of food allergies have no obvious origins. There are however a few startling facts that are now starting to surface.

There are three separate areas of research that are now starting to link together to form a possible solution to modern day allergies. In fact, modern day is one of they keys. Scientific research is no looking closely at personal hygiene, baby food and processed food and the link between these three areas.

Personal Hygiene

In what may surprise many people, research is now showing that personal hygiene can be taken too far. Using products that contain antibacterial properties are too effective - they kill the good germs as well as the bad germs. Our hygiene is also being inflicted on our children who are not being given the chance to acquire these beneficial bacteria.

What most people don't know is that bacteria plays an essential role in the digestion of our food. If we do not have enough bacteria in our gut, or the right sort of bacteria, we are not able to break down food properly. This is thought to be one of the problems behind allergies. It is thought that some bacteria convert the products that cause allergies into harmless enzymes.

By using cleaning products indiscriminately, we are killing the good and the bad bacteria and preventing our children from acquiring them. Bad bacteria can also be beneficial as they cause the body to go into fight mode. This is how antibodies are created. If we don't allow some of these bad bacteria in, we are not giving our immunity system a chance of kicking into gear and creating antibodies.

The final area that should be of concern is the way we treat our children. There are many parents who are over-protective. They don't allow their children to get dirty - more importantly, they don't allow them to play in dirt. Dirt is where many of these essential bacteria live and it is through dirt that children acquire these bacteria. Children from less developed countries who only have dirt to play

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