More and more day cares and schools are banning peanuts and other nuts because of the rise people of nut allergies. (In 1997 it was .4% of the US population and now it is 1.2% of the population.)
Some studies are showing the partially contributing factor to this rise is due to the fact that children are now exposed to less bacteria in their environment, so their immune systems are attacking the good proteins. Few children are allowed to play outdoors anymore and the huge increase of "anti-bacterial" hand soaps have put all of us into little germ-free bubbles. Few people live on farms or work outdoors anymore so they are less exposed to the bacteria that our immune system is design to protect. Have we now created an environment for people to contract auto-immune diseases such as diabetes, lupus, etc at a higher rate because we are afraid to get dirty?
