--- title: Kids With Pets May Be Less Likely to Develop Food Allergies description: A new study finds that exposure to a cat or dog during pregnancy and early infancy is associated with a lower risk of food allergies. canonical: https://time.com/6266337/pets-food-allergies-children/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-29T18:00:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:04.158Z article:section: Health og:title: Babies With Pets May Be Less Likely to Develop Food Allergies og:description: According to a new study og:url: https://time.com/6266337/pets-food-allergies-children/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3247a8b0efbdb834/698a3b7a22fb8548b9e2e867/baby-and-dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: A baby with a dog og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Babies With Pets May Be Less Likely to Develop Food Allergies twitter:description: According to a new study twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3247a8b0efbdb834/698a3b7a22fb8548b9e2e867/baby-and-dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Babies With Pets May Be Less Likely to Develop Food Allergies > Sponsored content. 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Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 29, 2023 6:00 PM UTC [About 8% of children in the U.S. have a food allergy](https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/foodallergies/index.htm), roughly double the percentage [who did in 2007](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19917585/). It’s not entirely clear why more kids are being diagnosed with food allergies, both in the U.S. and [across the world](https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46302780)—but as these potentially life-threatening conditions grow more common, lots of researchers are studying how to [treat](https://time.com/3719341/peanut-allergy-cure-treatment/) or [prevent them](https://time.com/4622667/how-to-prevent-peanut-allergy/). [A study](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282725) published in _PLOS ONE_ on Mar. 29 offers one potential strategy: get a pet. Among thousands of babies in Japan, exposure to cats or dogs during pregnancy or early infancy was associated with a lower risk of developing food allergies, the researchers found. That finding is based on data from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study, an ongoing trial that includes about 100,000 women in Japan who became pregnant from January 2011 to March 2014 and their children. Kids in the study are tracked until they turn 13 so researchers can learn more about how their living conditions and environmental exposures affect their health. The new study looked at about 66,000 children whose mothers provided information about their pet exposure and food allergies. Compared to children without pets, kids who were exposed to a cat or dog during pregnancy or early infancy were roughly 15% less likely to develop allergies to common triggers including eggs, milk, wheat, soybeans, and nuts by age three, according to their mothers’ survey responses. **Read More**: [_How Smart Is a Dog, Really? The Secrets of a Canine Mind_](https://time.com/4775436/how-smart-is-a-dog-really/) --- ### More from TIME --- Other pets—including hamsters, turtles, and birds—didn’t seem to provide the same benefits. Dogs kept indoors were also associated with a larger risk reduction than dogs kept outdoors. Scientists don’t fully understand the link between animal exposure and food allergies, the researchers write. One theory is that living with pets alters babies’ [microbiomes](https://time.com/5597688/microbiome-diabetes-premature-birth-prediction/) in a way that protects them from [food sensitivities](https://time.com/5497070/food-allergy-intolerance/), but more research is needed to say for sure. The new study should be taken with a grain of salt, since it relies on parents’ survey answers rather than objective allergy diagnostics. This sort of data also can’t prove cause and effect—so, while the researchers considered factors like parental health, the family’s socioeconomic status, and where they lived, it’s possible there’s another explanation for the link between pets and lower rates of food allergy. [Not all previous studies](https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0091674919313090) on pets and food allergies have come to the same conclusion, the authors note. However, other researchers have found that kids who live with pets during infancy are [less likely to develop environmental allergies](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/newborns%5Fexposed%5Fto%5Fdirt%5Fdander%5Fand%5Fgerms%5Fmay%5Fhave%5Flower%5Fallergy%5Fand%5Fasthma%5Frisk), [asthma](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/infant-exposure-pet-pest-allergens-may-reduce-asthma-risk), and other [respiratory illnesses](https://healthland.time.com/2012/07/09/study-why-dogs-and-cats-make-babies-healthier/). Pets are also associated with [better mental and physical health among adults](https://time.com/collection/guide-to-happiness/4728315/science-says-pet-good-for-mental-health/)—so adopting a cat or dog may be beneficial for an entire household’s health. ## Transcript Yeah, I did. I truly did not know it was going to be this one to win on the way here for better reasons than I was. But I just want to say that on behalf of myself everyone here with me today and the numerous other folks that that takes to make our show, Ted lasso, it is an honor to visit the White House and I have the opportunity to speak to the president and the first lady about the importance of mental health. It's like no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter who you voted for. We all probably I assume we all know someone who has or have been that someone ourselves actually that's struggle. That spelled isolated so anxious that has felt alone and it's actually one of many things that the believe it or not that we all have in common as human beings. And so That means that we is it something that we can all, you know, and should talk about with one another or feeling that way? Or when we when we recognize that and someone feeling that way. So please, you know, we encourage everyone and ends. Big theme of the show is like to check in with your, you know, your neighbor, your coworker, your friends are family and that's how they're doing and and listen, sincerely, you know yummy you will ask questions for a living but you also listen for a living. So you know who my preaching to the choir? That is okay. And while it's easier said than done, we also have to know that we should be afraid to ask for help ourselves and that does take a lot. But you wanted something that has Negative stigma to it such as mental health, and it doesn't need to be that way. And if you can ask for that, help from a professional fantastic. If you need to be a loved one, equally as good in a lot of ways cuz it's sometimes you just need to let that pressure that the pressure valve release, the president's working on and is in his own team. Although his team is real, our team is make-believe, I don't know what. They're working, very hard to make sure that it's that, you know, that option is available to as many Americans as possible in this town. A lot of folks. Don't always agree, right? You don't always feel heard seen, listen to yes, but I truly believe that we should all do our best to help take care of each other. That's that's my own personal believe. I think it's something they would appear onstage please. And we talked about the editing room and everything in between, it just like the way they take care of one another. That is the wish fulfillment of the show. Army, plane coach and these guys being professional footballers. Do you know? 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