Welcome to the Week’s Review of Canine Social Media
Welcome to this Special Feature on the DoggieU K9 Blog for an update on this week’s dog-related social media from around the world. There are so many stories. Here we will share some of the best stories this week.
Enjoy & share them.
Another ‘Dogs Can Improve Human Health’ Story!
New study suggests that growing up with a dog or a large family can also lower risk of inflammatory bowel disease
According to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2022, the largest gastrointestinal focused professional meeting in the US, ‘living with dogs (but not cats) as a toddler might protect against Crohn’s disease.’
- “Our study seems to add to others that have explored 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,” said the study’s senior author and a research associate with Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto.
- Researchers used an environmental questionnaire to collect information from nearly 4,300 first-degree relatives of people with Crohn’s disease enrolled in the Crohn’s and Colitis Canada Genetic, Environmental, and Microbial (CCC-GEM) project. Using responses to the questionnaire and historical data collected at the time of recruitment, the research team analyzed several environmental factors, including family size, the presence of dogs or cats as household pets, the number of bathrooms in the house, living on a farm, drinking unpasteurized milk and drinking well water. The analysis also included age at the time of exposure.
- The study found that exposure to dogs, particularly from ages 5 to 15, was linked with healthy gut permeability and balance between the microbes in the gut and the body’s immune response, all of which might help protect against Crohn’s disease. Similar effects were observed with exposure to dogs across all age groups.
- “We did not see the same results with cats, though we are still trying to determine why. It could potentially 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.” Another protective factor seemed to be living with three or more family members in the first year of life, which was associated with microbiome composition later in life. The gut microbiome is believed to play a role in a number of health conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
So stay healthy and hug your dog(s)!
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Some wonderful dog situations from Social Media
Click to enlarge pics and for slide show view
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