Preventing many allergies could be as simple as taking a breath - of farm dust. Dust from dairy farms switches on an anti-inflammatory enzyme in the lung cells of mice, researchers report in the Sept. 4 Science. The enzyme keeps the immune system from overreacting to common allergens, such as house dust mites, the team found. It's the first time researchers have pinned down a specific molecule that explains how farm dust can prevent allergies, says Donata Vercelli, an immu-nologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "This won't be the end of the story, but it's certainly a good beginning." Scientists have known that farm life seems to protect kids from developing asthma and hay fever. Contact with animals, drinking raw milk and breathing farm air all could play a role. But no one knows exactly how.
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