Millions of Americans, over 50% of the population in fact, suffer from one or more allergies. While many of these allergies are decidedly mild, such as hay fever allergies, allergies to a certain mold that can be avoided, latex allergies which result in itching hives, metal allergies to complexes made by physical contact with copper or aluminum, or dust mite allergies which require the purchase of hypoallergenic mattress covers to forestall reactions, others are serous, scary, and life threatening.

Thousands every year perish as a result of peanut allergies or shellfish reactions, almost always after eating something that was not labeled to contain the risky food. Still others die because they are given an antibiotic or some other type of medication which their immune system sees as being dangerous or hostile, or they die simply because the doctors know well enough that they can’t be given that particular drug and back up medications are less effective.

It may surprise many to know that these allergies are not, in and of themselves, the result of a broken bodily system. Rather, the immune system keeps us alive but can become mis-targeted due to its complexity and a certain amount of random chance and genetic predisposition. Once the body sees these compounds as threatening, whether it be a certain kind of soap or bee venom (which is designed to cause a reaction) or latex or copper/aluminum compounds, it pulls no punches in dealing with it when they are located. This damages the body itself with the severity of the warfare.

Perhaps the best treatment for allergies is prevention. And it is rather counterintuitive. Before the body is set in its ways it needs to see as many harmless compounds as possible. So let your baby play in the dirt, expose it to nature. A little dirt can help temper the immune system for years and years to come.

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