Food allergies have been on the rise over the last few decades, with over 32 million Americans having a life-threatening food allergy, according to Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE). An allergy comes from an adverse immune response when exposed to a given food type. The allergic reaction involves the immune system attacking food proteins that are normally harmless, and can lead to anaphylaxis in serious cases.

根据食物过敏研究与教育(FARE)的数据，在过去的几十年里，食物过敏一直在上升，超过3200万美国人患有危及生命的食物过敏。过敏症源自暴露于特定食物类型下的不良免疫反应，届时，免疫系统攻击会无害的食物蛋白质，严重时可导致过敏性休克。

The idea that exposure to pets is effective in preventing allergic disease has been suggested for some time. Research into the “hygiene hypothesis” – the idea that extremely clean environments actually fail to provide sufficient exposure to germs needed to prime our immune systems to fight infections – has shown the potential benefits of being exposed to dogs during early infancy, especially in association with food allergies. However, less research has been conducted on exposure to other pets.

与宠物接触可以有效预防过敏性疾病的观点，已经提出了一段时间。对“卫生假说”的研究表明，在婴儿早期接触狗狗有潜在的好处，尤其是与食物过敏有关。“卫生假说”的观点是，极其干净的环境实际上不能提供足够的接触细菌的机会，而这些细菌是我们的免疫系统对抗感染所必需的。然而，关于接触其他宠物的研究却很少。

This latest study sought to address this. Hisao Okabe, a researcher from the Fukushima Regional Center for the Japan Environment and Children’s Study, Japan, and colleagues examined data on pet exposure and food allergies for 66,215 children to see if contact with different animals impacted the risk of food allergies.

最新的研究试图解决这个问题。日本福岛环境与儿童研究区域中心的研究员Hisao Okabe及其同事，对66215名儿童的宠物接触和食物过敏数据进行了研究，试图了解接触不同的动物是否会影响食物过敏的风险。

The team’s findings suggest that exposure to indoor dogs and cats significantly reduced the incidence of food allergies. Such exposure to indoor dogs, they found, significantly lowered the likelihood of developing allergies to milk, eggs, and nuts. Exposure to cats significantly lowered the chances of developing allergies to eggs, wheat, and soybeans.

研究结果表明，与室内猫狗接触可以显著降低食物过敏的发生率。他们发现，与室内狗狗接触可以显著降低对牛奶、鸡蛋和坚果过敏的可能性。与猫接触可以显著降低对鸡蛋、小麦和大豆过敏的几率。

The results did not reveal any significant difference for children living with outdoor dogs – but, unexpectedly, they found that children exposed to hamsters had a much higher risk of nut allergies. This, they believe, may be because hamsters eat nuts in abundance. If they are correct, it suggests that nut allergens could be communicated to infants through skin exposure, a process called “percutaneous sensitization”, to hamsters or house dust. “Therefore”, the authors argued, “family hand washing and keeping hamsters away from babies might minimize the risk of nut allergy even if hamsters are kept as pets.”

研究结果并没有显示出与户外狗狗生活在一起的儿童有任何显著差异，但出乎意料的是，他们发现与仓鼠生活在一起的儿童，患坚果过敏的风险要高得多。他们认为，这可能是因为仓鼠食用大量的坚果。如果他们是正确的，将表明坚果过敏原可能通过皮肤暴露(被称为“经皮致敏”)，经仓鼠或房屋灰尘传播给婴儿。“因此，”作者认为，“注意洗手和让仓鼠远离婴儿，可能会最大限度地降低坚果过敏的风险，即使仓鼠是作为宠物饲养的。”

According to the authors, the study demonstrates the potential benefits of having dogs and cats as pets when children are very young. These results, they claim “reduce concerns about the development of allergic diseases caused by keeping dogs and cats.”

根据作者的说法，这项研究证明，在孩子很小的时候养狗和猫作为宠物有潜在的好处。他们声称，这些结果“减少了人们对养猫狗会引起过敏性疾病的担忧。”

The study was published in Plos One.

这项研究发表在《Plos One》上。