I believe the increase in allergies (at least some common ones) has been linked to lack of exposure. There was a study many years ago showing that kids raised i

I believe the increase in allergies (at least some common ones) has been linked to lack of exposure. There was a study many years ago showing that kids raised in houses with dishwashers tended to have more allergies than houses without them. This is correlation, of course.. was it the dirtier dishes that exposed me to more stuff as a kid than my wife was exposed to? Was it something about detergents being used? Not sure, but anecdotally my wife and I certainly reflect this correlation. Similar to not growing up around cats — more likely to have a cat allergy. Don’t ask me where all the latex allergies popped up from. Is that still as big a deal these days or did it go away? I’ve heard of parents deliberately trying to avoid their kids having allergies to things (like peanut butter) by essentially embarking on an exposure regimen from a young age.