hand wash your dishes with that sketchy sponge, it's good for ur kids

[Liberal_in_LA]

Most parents want their children to live in an environment that's clean and sanitary. We all buy home appliances that allow us to keep our homes as spotless as possible with little effort.

But increasingly, research indicates that a little bit of dirt and bacteria may be a good thing. The newest study to lend support for the so-called "hygiene hypothesis" finds children are less likely to have allergies if they live in homes where dishes and food utensils are washed by hand rather than in a dishwasher. The hygiene hypothesis is the idea that early exposure to an array of different microbes is needed to help a child develop a healthy immune system.

"The whole idea is that humans and all mammals live in homeostasis with all their bacteria in their lungs, skin and GI tract," David Rosenstreich, chief of the division of the allergy and immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, told CBS News. "Having a lot of different bacteria growing inside you tends to stimulate the immune system and makes things stronger."

The new study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, involved 1,029 children aged 7 and 8 from Sweden. Families filled out questionnaires about their children's history of asthma, eczema and rhinoconjunctivitis (mucous membrane inflammation that causes itchy and watery eyes and congested sinuses).

The researchers found that children living in homes where dishes were done the old-fashioned way -- by hand with a sponge -- were far less likely to have these common allergic conditions.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hand-wash-dinner-plates-to-protect-kids-from-allergies/

[Warpy]

1. When the sponge gets really, really sketchy to the point it starts to smell

wetting it and sticking it in the microwave for a minute or two will extend its life.

My dishwasher has always been at the ends of my arms, hot water just feels too good on my arthritic hands. I only lived in a place with a dishwasher once and the only thing I ever used one for was sterilizing the bottles when I was bottling homebrew beer.

[abelenkpe]

2. Cool

Our apartment doesn't have a dishwasher.

[Skittles]

3. I have never used a dishwasher

waste of electricity

[Fumesucker]

7. If you use hot water to wash and rinse dishes by hand it can be less efficient than a dishwasher

I don't have a dishwasher, no place in my tiny kitchen for one.

Also suffer from dry skin on my hands and getting them in soapy water removes what natural oils are in my skin and aggravates the condition, particularly in winter.

[countryjake]

16. That's what dishpans are for...

And these:

[Fumesucker]

17. My dog chewed the last pair a while back..

I can do dishes and only get two fingers wet..

[countryjake]

19. I'm like Warpy, hot dishpans make my hands feels better...

but I'll pull the gloves out from under the sink once Winter arrives, too, cause dry, bleeding knuckles make sore joints hurt even worse.

I've never lived anywhere that had a dishwasher, but I've worked for lots of houses that had them, and those families eventually agreed with me that automatic dishwashers are a tremendous waste of both water and electricity and ultimately paid me for my amazing dish washing ability.

[cwydro]

15. Me either. nt

[dilby]

4. I put my dishes and utensils in the dish washer.

But all my pots, pans, knives and cutting boards are washed by hand. My pots and pans are also cast iron so I don't use soap on them at all, just hot water and a sponge.

[CTyankee]

6. I had to give up that cast iron skillet that I had seasoned and lugged during my several

moves over the years. It was just too much trouble, despite my Southern upbringing that dictated to me that I had to fry my chicken in it. And geez, was it heavy!

I got a fine frying pan that I can use and hold my head up doing so. And it isn't so damn heavy...but I don't fry chicken any more. Everything is a variant of my very basic evoo, white wine reduction, with chopped fresh garlic and flat leaf parsley...

[dilby]

8. Yeah I have 4 pans of various sizes and 4 pots.

They weigh a ton but I swear by cooking with cast Iron, everything turns out perfect, the surface is perfectly seasoned so no sticking and I just feel food tastes better. But I am also the type who refuses to use a Gas grill because if it's not charcoal it's not grilling.

[CTyankee]

9. god bless. And we agree on charcoal grilling...

[pansypoo53219]

13. i inherited a bunch of cast iron from my grandma. she would fix them for resale. they had been left.

i kept the lightest weighing large frying pan. i found a spare covered griswald chicken pot for when the 1/2 rusted away one dies. it makes the best roasts.

[tridim]

5. Scientists also think childhood booger eating is beneficial.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eating-boogers-may-boost-immunity-scientist-suspects/

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/04/30/professor-asks-if-eating-boogers-boosts-immunity/

[elias49]

18. Oh please! nt

[FSogol]

21. Are you the most immunist?

[Cirque du So-What]

10. That has been a hypothesis of mine for some time now

Among friends and acquaintances, the overwhelming majority of those who obsessively cleaned and sanitized were the families with allergic and asthmatic children.

And now, my anecdote.

As a child I swam and played along the banks of the Ohio River in the days before regulations requiring wastewater treatment, making it literally an open sewer. The only concession to 'hygiene' amounted to swimming upstream from the town's sewer pipe or going at least a half-mile downstream from it. Years later, I took the series of vaccinations for hepatitis B as part of becoming a medical first responder. When the results came back, my seroconversion rate (a measure of the number of antibodies produced in response to the HBV organisms) was roughly ten times greater than anyone else's who got vaccinated at that time. I believe it was due to my exposure to a smorgasbord of organisms at an early age.

[ND-Dem]

22. that is a very interesting story.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. Our street would flood frequently when I was a kid.

The Maple Avenue River we called it. We would run and play and ride our bikes through what was basically backed up sewer water.

I laugh at my friends who insist on sanitizing everything their kids touch.

[one_voice]

11. My sister almost had heart failure when she saw I used a sponge...

she was all 'OMG...do you know what kinds of germs...blah blah blah' She was putting it in the microwave every day.

I drink hot tea every morning. So every couple days I take the boiling water and pour it on the sponge. It never stinks. When it's worn out I toss it.

[Demit]

26. I do that! Also, when I bleach the coffee & tea mugs, I soak the sponge too.

I've never had a sponge smell, ever.

[Avalux]

12. I've long abided by the 5 second rule.

I've got a background in infectious diseases, so this may seem silly to you. But there is a 5 second rule, that if you drop food on the floor, it's ok if you pick it up and eat it within 5 seconds (provided the floor isn't filthy).

I raised my three girls in a clean home, but not sterile. I won't use antibacterial products, and have always known that exposure to normal everyday 'dirt' is good for the immune system. They rarely needed antibiotics and are healthy today.

It's common sense, really.

[smirkymonkey]

14. I only use brushes. For some reason I have had a sponge phobia

ever since I was I child. They have always grossed me out. I hate wet cloth as well. I don't use washcloths either. Loofahs or just lather up. It's just always been a weird thing with me, I don't particularly have any strong convictions about it.

[a la izquierda]

24. I get your sponge issue.

After a week, I cannot handle how they smell. Ick.

[tridim]

30. Odd question, but does it make you cringe...

thinking about putting cloth in your mouth and biting down on it?

I'm not sponge or washcloth phobic, but thinking about fibrous cloth getting stuck in my teeth makes me squirm. I've always suspected it's a mild autistic symptom.

[blue neen]

20. Who is going to hand wash all those dishes in school cafeterias?

Not very practical or practicable.

[hunter]

23. Not great advice about the sponge unless you are a vegetarian.

U.S.A. supermarket factory farm meat is simply gross, that's why the labels tell you to heat it to 160^oF throughout to kill everything. Antibiotic resistant bacteria should not be encouraged. I'm always very careful washing up if I'm cooking with supermarket meat or eggs.

Our kids got their bacteria the old fashioned way, by breastfeeding, playing in the dirt with their parents, eating fruits and vegetables directly from the garden, and the dogs licking their faces.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. My dishwasher is where I store my woks.

My husband loves to wash dishes, so we haven't had the dishwasher on for 12 years. It would probably leak all over the floor now from dried-up seals.

[daleanime]

27. Prefer dishcloths myself.....

after a couple of usages they get washed and then it's back in the drawer.

[grasswire]

29. I know this research...

...but I also know that the children in two families close to me are constantly sick with pinkeye, strep, otitis media, enterovirus, eczema, simple colds, and so on. Ages 6, 8, 3 and 3. One of these families deliberately does not believe in handwashing and other measures for hygiene, and is very lax about sanitary conditions. The other family practices more handwashing But those kids are sick all the time, too. Maybe it's more complicated than germs/no germs.

[Ilsa]

31. Well then, my kids are going to have to do the dishes

BECAUSE I'M NOT GOING TO. I did dishes growing up. I still had allergies. And now that I'm older my hands can't handle the heat, even with gloves. Washing with gloves can also cause problems. So it's the electric dishwasher for me. High heat, please. I don't like having intestinal problems.

Besides, I bet the kids get exposed to plenty of germs at school.