Country Life

Fecal samples from the subjects showed the children raised on a farm had a much healthier, more diverse gut microbiome than urban dwelling ones. The urban samples were found to dominantly have Atinobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla, whereas the Amish ones were primarily Firmicutes. The differences in these two biomes could potentially mean development of stronger, more robust and healthy immune systems, especially concerning the respiratory tract.

Researchers credit much of these findings to livestock exposure and living in an overall less sanitary environment. This is in line with other studies from multiple countries suggesting the same thing — babies and children living in rural, not-too-sanitized environments tend to have more vigorous immune systems. Studies have also shown a link between rural environments with a decrease in asthma and allergies among residents because of this.

This information is certainly intriguing and quite relevant to urbanites and rural citizens. But the study didn’t stop there — researchers went a step further to test their findings. This was conducted using piglets as a model for humans.