Owning a pet, specially dogs, has many health benefits. Playing with your furry friend helps boost your immunity, lift up your mood, control your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and more. Moreover, a new study said that young children who grow up with a dog have lower risk of Crohn's disease (CD), a common inflammatory bowel disease.
The study, slated to be presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2022, also suggested that growing up with a large family can protect children from this disease. However, the researchers found no such benefits with cats.
How living with dogs protect against Crohn's disease? The authors pointed to the 'hygiene hypothesis' which suggests that the lack of exposure to microbes early in life may lead to lack of immune regulation toward environmental microbes later in life.
The research team from the Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto surveyed nearly 4,300 first-degree relatives of people with Crohn's disease. They analyzed several environmental factors, such as family size, presence of household pets, number of bathrooms in the house, living on a farm, drinking unpasteurized milk and drinking well water.
Exposure to dogs, particularly from ages 5 to 15, was found to be associated with healthy gut permeability and balance between the microbes in the gut and the body's immune response. All of these factors appear to protect against Crohn's disease, the authors noted.
The study's senior author Williams Turpin, a research associate with Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto, suggested that this benefit could be because dog owners get outside more often with their pets or live in areas with more green space, which has been shown previously to protect against Crohn's.
The researchers also found living with three or more family members in the first year of life associated with microbiome composition later in life, and similar protection against Crohn's disease. The role of gut microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other health conditions has been highlighted in previous studies.
The researchers hope their findings may help physicians determine patients who are at highest risk of Crohn's disease.
However, they noted that how exactly dog ownership and larger families appear to provide protection from Crohn's remain unclear.
Crohn's disease causes your digestive tract to become swollen and irritated. Most often it develops in young adults, people who smoke, and those with family history of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Symptoms associated with the disease include diarrhea, abdominal pain and weight loss.
The exact cause of Crohn's disease is not known yet. Several factors, including heredity and a malfunctioning immune system, are believed to play a role in its development.
Currently, there is no cure for Crohn's disease. Treatments are aimed at preventing symptom flare-ups through diet modification, medication, and surgery.
