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Go Ahead, Suck Your Thumb, Bite Your Nails, It May Be Good For Your Health If You're A Kid

By Dr. Dave Hnida

(CBS4) - It seems like kids love to stick things into their mouths, especially hands and fingers. And while they are at it, why not suck a thumb, gnaw a nail, or munch on a fist?

Habits we parents tends to freak out over, thinking it's going to mess up new teeth, or deform a finger. Even worse is the thought of the gazillion germs on a child's hand. Wow, just a breeding for every make and model of bacteria -- who wants to have those things get slobbered into a youngster's mouth?

Well, a new study in the Journal Pediatrics says chill out. Those nasty oral habits may be protecting your child from allergies as they get older.

infant
Infant sucking a tasty thumb (courtesy American Academy of Pediatrics)

Researchers followed more than 1,000 people from birth to age 32 (now that's a long follow study). They conducted periodic skin tests for allergies while at the same time surveying which of the babies through young adulthood were thumb-suckers or nail-biters.

It turns out the finger or hand lovers had a significantly lower rate of allergies than those who spent their formative years keeping their mouths free from their own digits. This was especially true for pet and mite allergies. And it turns out that those who were both fans of the thumb and biters of the nails had the fewest allergies.

So why might this be? It probably has to do with the "too clean" phenomenon that some health experts say has evolved over the last couple decades -- the same time frame we have seen a major jump in kids with allergies. Translation: "too clean" means that the immune system doesn't learn good from bad, and what to spend time fighting off, so the body learns to freak out over normally innocent things such as foods, pollens, and dander.

However, admittedly in this study, there wasn't much of a difference seen in rates of asthma and hay fever, though other studies have found a link between "the more dirt, the fewer allergies" for these problems.

It's funny, it's really hard NOT to get worked up when your child is sticking a filthy hand into the mouth -- that may be a bit too much. And nails being gnawed to the nub isn't so appealing, either.

Nonetheless, the study does make some sense, and may help put your mind at ease.

(Incidentally, no research was done on other grown-ups who tend to nervously nibble nails.)

Dr. Dave Hnida is CBS4's Medical Editor. He blogs about the latest studies and trends in the health world. Read his latest blog entries, check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @drdavehnida

 

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