Immunological benefits of growing up on farms

WITH immunological diseases increasing in western society and posing a growing challenge to 21st century medicine, research on pigs conducted at Bristol veterinary school has provided evidence that growing up on a farm directly affects the regulation of the immune system and causes a reduction in immunological responses to food proteins.

In the study, some members of litters of piglets were raised by their sows on a farm, while their siblings were raised from day 1 in an isolator unit under very hygienic conditions and fed formula milk. Piglets were chosen as the subjects for the research as they are considered valuable translational models for …