Peanut allergies more common in rich kids, study finds

GlobalPost

Here's more evidence that those people who panic and douse themselves with hand sanitizer whenever they touch anything are being needlessly annoying. 

Kids who come from rich families are more likely to suffer from peanut allergies, and it's probably because rich kids tend to be kept in cleaner environments, a new study has found. The study looked at 8,306 children and adults and found that kids ages 1 to 9 from high-income families had higher rates of peanut allergies compared with kids in the same age group from lower-income families, LiveScience reported

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The results add support to the hygiene hypothesis, study researcher Dr. Sandy Yip told LiveScience. The popular hygiene hypothesis is the idea that living in a cleaner environment makes people's immune systems become too sensitive and more likely to develop allergies. 

This study comes after research in January also found that educated people in Canada are more prone to food allergies, according to Discovery. Meanwhile, immigrants were found to be less likely to suffer from allergies. As a result, doctors have suggested that people no longer wait to introduce certain foods to their babies. 

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