Being Too Clean May Make You Sick?

Have you ever thought why am I sick so much? Why are my allergies so bad? My other friends don’t get as sick as me and I am much cleaner than them… Well, the source of your diminishing health could be the very thing you thought that is protecting you.

The cleaning products we use may be doing to well of a job and living in a very clean and hygienic environment may impact our exposure to microorganisms that are beneficial for  development of the immune system. The University of Michigan recently performed a study that displayed a positive correlation between use of antibacterial soap and diagnosis of allergies.  Two chemicals were identified Triclosan and Bisphenol A (BPA). Triclosan is a chemical compound widely used in products such as antibacterial  soaps, toothpaste, pens, diaper bags and medical devices and BPA is  found in many plastics.  Both of these chemicals are in a class of environmental intoxicants called endocrine-disrupting compounds, which are believed to negatively impact  human health by mimicking or affecting hormones.

The researchers compared urine samples of adults and children over the age of 6 with the above chemicals and compared it with levels of cytomegalovirus (CMV), which is a virus. CMV is typically unnoticed in healthy people, but can be life-threatening for the immunocompromised, such as HIV-infected persons, organ transplant recipients, or new-born infants and it can lay dormant for a long time.

The Researches found that people over age 18 who were exposed to more BPA had higher CMV antibody levels, which suggests their immune system may not be  functioning properly and people exposed to higher levels of triclosan were associated with greater odds of having been diagnosed with allergies.

This is the only research They found and that I can find. Clearly more research is needed to be done but if you want to read the full PDF article for yourself by following this link http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/11/29/2029256/Being-Too-Clean-Can-Make-People-Sick