Being Too Clean Can Make People Sick

An anonymous reader writes "Young people who are overexposed to antibacterial soaps containing triclosan may suffer more allergies, and exposure to higher levels of Bisphenol A among adults may negatively influence the immune system, a new University of Michigan School of Public Health study suggests (abstract, full paper [PDF]). Triclosan is a chemical compound widely used in products such as antibacterial soaps, toothpaste, pens, diaper bags and medical devices. Bisphenol A is found in many plastics and, for example, as a protective lining in food cans. Both of these chemicals are in a class of environmental toxicants called endocrine-disrupting compounds, which are believed to negatively impact human health by mimicking or affecting hormones."

Comments

Anti-bacterial soap will kill you all.

[Capt.DrumkenBum]

But it won't kill me, because I won't use them. In the past 20 years or so we have become so afraid of dirt that our kids will have practically no immune system at all.

Re:Anti-bacterial soap will kill you all.

[Hatta]

Let's just tag this story Carlin and be done with it.

Re:Anti-bacterial soap will kill you all.

[DigiShaman]

I think the idea is to stimulate the immune system, not overwhelm it.

Almost new information

[Saishuuheiki]

Now the article suggests that it could either be caused by the hygiene or the chemicals used in the cleaners.

Now if this study was well done and had some control groups, say other forms of cleaners, we might learn something we didn't already know.

Re:Almost new information

[spun]

Now the article suggests that it could either be caused by the hygiene or the chemicals used in the cleaners.

Now if this study was well done and had some control groups, say other forms of cleaners, we might learn something we didn't already know.

The article suggests what now? Did you read it? No. You did not read the article. Do you know how I know you did not read the article? Because I read the article, and it suggests nothing of the sort. This was not a test of soaps and cleaners. And you know what? I'm not going to tell you what the article actually says. If you want to know why you are wrong, and why you are not smarter than a science reporter, let alone an actual scientist, go read the article.

Two completely different claims

[SpeedyDX]

One claim is that being too clean makes people unhealthy. The other is that triclosan and BPA make people unhealthy. Those are two very distinct and different claims. The latter claim is what this study seems to prove, while the former claim seems completely unsubstantiated by this study according to TFA.

If those antibacterial products could have been made with a compound other than triclosan, would cleanliness still have a negative impact on health?

Further, the closing comment on the article makes another good point:

"It is possible, for example, that individuals who have an allergy are more hygienic because of their condition, and that the relationship we observed is, therefore, not causal or is an example of reverse causation," Aiello said.

So really, there seems to be NOTHING in support of the claim that being too clean makes people unhealthy.

This is either another case of journalistic ignorance or journalistic sensationalism. But seeing as the journal is called Medical Daily, you'd expect them to have at least a minimum amount of knowledge and insight.

Re:I've suspected this for years.

[jeffmeden]

Except instead of your "hey wouldn't it be totally ironic if anti-bacterial soap made people SICKER!!??" observation, they have identified Triclosan and Bisphenol A as an endocrine disruptor with the specific function of inhibiting the immune system not by protecting it from exposure or selectively breeding resistant germs (the two popular "well duh" observations here) but by actually inhibiting the effectiveness of the immune system. Knowing this, as opposed to say "knowing that for sure, antibacterial soaps are totally bad because they don't let your body *learn* about bad germs!!!" is what leads to advances in medicine and pathogen control.

I'm not a doctor but I appreciate what they do.

Re:Yawn

[jeffmeden]

It's not new that our immune system has to be trained to work well. And only some kind of idiot doesn't make the link that keeping the kids away from every source of infection must result in an inferior immune system. Where's the news here?

What's new, it seems (even by reading the summary and not venturing near TFA) is that the story has NOTHING to do with "training" the immune system. Instead the study was on how endocrine inhibitors influenced immune system effectiveness. Strangely, they made no mention of the "kids who played with dirt vs. kids who were kept in a hermetic bubble" research that so many on slashdot are fond of reciting.

Re:Yawn

[SpinyNorman]

The news here is that there maybe a link between chemicals used in antibacterial soaps, etc, and immume disfunction (over activity - allergies/etc).

This is NOT at all the same as the trite observation that your immune system (mostly) needs to be exposed to stuff to protect you from it. Lack of protection isn't the same as disfunction, and this isn't about NOT being exposed to anything - it's about BEING exposed to something (certain harmful chemicals).

Of course, correlation isn't causation, and it's not necessarily the chemicals cited that are causing the disfucntion, so (as the authors conclude) this only incidates the need for further study.

It's called the "Acquired Immune" system...

[Lord Kano]

Because we're not born with immunity to most things. We acquire it from low level exposure. If you remove all of those initial low level exposures from someone's life, they won't acquire immunity. It makes perfect sense.

LK