"If you need a reason to become a dog lover how about their ability to help protect kids from allergies and obesity A new University of Alberta study showed that babies from families with pets per cent of which were dogsshowed higher levels of two types of microbes associated with lower risks of allergic disease and obesity. But dont rush out to adopt a furry friend just yet. Theres definitely a critical window of time when gut immunity and microbes codevelop and when disruptions to the process result in changes to gut immunity said Anita Kozyrskyj a U of A pediatric epidemiologist and one of the worlds leading researchers on gut microbesmicroorganisms or bacteria that live in the digestive tracts of humans and animals. The latest findings from Kozyrskyj and her teams work on fecal samples collected from infants registered in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development study build on two decades of research that show children who grow up with dogs have lower rates of asthma.  The theory is that exposure to dirt and bacteria early in lifefor example in a dogs fur and on its pawscan create early immunity though researchers arent sure whether the effect occurs from bacteria on the furry friends or from human transfer by touching the pets said Kozyrskyj. Her team of  including study coauthor and U of A postdoctoral fellow Hein Min Tun take the science one step closer to understanding the connection by identifying that exposure to pets in the womb or up to three months after birth increases the abundance of two bacteria Ruminococcus and Oscillospira which have been linked with reduced childhood allergies and obesity respectively. The abundance of these two bacteria were increased twofold when there was a pet in the house said Kozyrskyj adding that the pet exposure was shown to affect the gut microbiome indirectlyfrom dog to mother to unborn babyduring pregnancy as well as during the first three months of the babys life. In other words even if the dog had been given away for adoption just before the woman gave birth the healthy microbiome exchange could still take place.  The study also showed that the immunityboosting exchange occurred even in three birth scenarios known for reducing immunity as shown in Kozyrskyjs previous work Csection versus vaginal delivery antibiotics during birth and lack of breastfeeding. Whats more Kozyrskyjs study suggested that the presence of pets in the house reduced the likelihood of the transmission of vaginal GBS group B Strep during birth which causes pneumonia in newborns and is prevented by giving mothers antibiotics during delivery. Its far too early to predict how this finding will play out in the future but Kozyrskyj doesnt rule out the concept of a dog in a pill as a preventive tool for allergies and obesity.  Its not farfetched that the pharmaceutical industry will try to create a supplement of these microbiomes much like was done with probiotics she said.  The study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Allergy Genes and Environment Network AllerGen NCE was published in the journal Microbiome along with an editorial in Nature."