THE FIDO FACTOR

Want to improve your kids’ health? Get a dog. A just published article in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that children who spend their first year around a dog are much less likely to develop allergic skin rashes, a sign that their immune systems are stronger. Cats appear to confer no such benefits.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison collected umbilical cord blood and performed physical exams on children from 285 families during their first year of life. In all cases, either the mother or father had allergies or asthma. One hundred and one of the children were raised with a dog in the house and 84 had a cat.

The team, led by Dr. James Gern, a pediatrics professor, found that children who lived with dogs tended to have less dermatitis, a skin rash that many doctors believe is an early sign of allergies. Those without dogs were twice as likely to develop an unexplained skin rash than those who did have a pooch.

In addition, genetic testing of the umbilical cord blood found that those who lived with dogs were less likely to develop a protein involved in allergies and tended to show higher levels of substances that may help the body resist allergic reactions.

The reason dogs may help curb allergies better than cats could be that they are dirtier, Dr. Gern said. Exposure to dirt early in life is thought to boost the immune system, enabling it to better fight allergies. “Dogs are larger and are more likely to lick you in the face compared to cats,” Dr. Gern told Reuters.

Past studies about the effects of pet exposure on childhood allergies and asthma have had conflicting results, with some showing that exposure to cats, for example, actually increases the risk of asthma. Dr. Gern warns that his groups’ findings are preliminary and that more research is needed to figure out why dogs may confer more immunity to children. However, if dogs are proven to boost kids’ immune systems, it may be possible to find a way to mimic the effect and ward off allergies and asthma in more kids, without having to feed and walk Fido.

In the meantime, children whining to add a dog (spayed or neutered, of course) to the family – muddy paw prints and all – may be on to something.