This substance spreads with the stable dust and forms an “allergy protection bell” with a 300 meter radius around each cattle stable, the researchers explain in the journal “Clinical and Translational Allergy”. “Numerous studies show that a high percentage of children who have grown up in a rural environment are protected from asthma, allergies and neurodermatitis,” explains the researchers led by Isabella Pali-Schöll from the Messerli Research Institute (MFI) at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna on Wednesday. It was already known that cattle stalls in particular had a protective function against such diseases. “In addition, drinking unprocessed, natural raw milk appears to reduce the risk of allergies,” they write.
According to the researchers, in a “detective search” the milk protein substance beta-lactoglobulin was identified as an allergy-fighting substance. It was detectable in large quantities in the dust of cattle stalls and was even carried from there to people’s beds. “We were able to measure BLG in decreasing concentrations up to almost 300 meters around the barn,” reports Pali-Schöll.
The protein known from milk probably gets into the stable air primarily through cattle urine. “BLG was detected there in both female and male animals,” says the immunologist and nutritionist.
In experiments with mice, the researchers were able to show that BLG can actually prevent an allergic immune response. “Normal” cowshed dust with BLG suppressed allergic reactions to birch pollen in the rodents, while BLG-free dust had no protective effect.
Source: Nachrichten
