Overprotective mothers do everything they can to protect their children and babies from bacteria and dirt. This means mothers watching all their activities and being too cautious letting them explore.

But a study by researchers at the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood found that if infants are exposed to more bacteria, the less chance they have of developing an allergic disease later in life.

In the study, more than 400 children were observed, looking at the direct link between the number of different bacteria in their rectums and the risk of developing an allergic disease later in life.

Chief researcher Hans Bisgaard said reduced diversity of the intestinal microbiota during infancy was associated with increased risk of contracting an allergic disease at the child's school age. He summed it up saying that the greater the variation of bacteria, the lower the risk.

During the course of the study, Bisgaard also found that there is no one single allergy bacteria, and that all that matters was for a child to encounter a large number of different bacteria early in life when the immune system is still developing and learning.

Previous studies also show that children who are exposed to bacteria are less prone to allergies. In a study done by Roger Lauener from Zurich University Children's Hospital in Switzerland, in 2002, found that farmer's children grow to be less affected by allergies than those who did not grow up on farms.

At present, more and more people suffer from allergies. Researchers blame this to today's clean lifestyle, wherein the body's immune system reacts to almost any foreign substances such as pollen, mold, and particular foods. With people's lifestyle protecting them from every new and foreign thing that passes them, the greater the chance for a reaction when these substances are encountered.