Allergic baby? Try nature and a dog, says study - St. Albert TODAY

Anita Kozyrskyj co-authored a study in Environment International July 9 on how exposing urban babies to nature affects the bacteria in their guts.

Studies have found breast-fed babies have less diverse gut microbes than formula-fed ones and go on to have fewer health problems.

While the team found all babies close to natural areas had less diverse microbes than those far from them, they found statistically significant differences only amongst babies who were close to nature, not breast-fed, and had pets in the home.

Formula-fed babies have more diverse gut microbes than breast-fed ones because formula contains simpler sugars that more microbes can digest, Kozyrskyj said.

Kozyrskyj said this was the first study of its kind to look at the link between a baby’s gut microbes and nature.

Her team now hopes to track the formula-fed babies in this study to see if nature exposure actually does improve their health