to gain a better understanding of the environmental factors that may affect the disease, researchers administered an environmental questionnaire to nearly 4,300 first-degree relatives of patients with crohn’s disease who were enrolled in the crohn’s and colitis canada genetic, environmental and microbial (ccc-gem) project. using this information, combined with historical data acquired at the time of recruitment, they were able to analyze multiple factors, including family size, the presence of dogs or cats, living on a farm, the number of bathrooms in the home and drinking unpasteurized milk and well water.
they found that early exposure to dogs was associated with factors that result in a healthy gut microbiome, which is believed to offer protection against many health conditions, including ibd,
diabetes, colorectal cancer and hypertension. the effects were seen across all age groups but particularly between the ages of five and 15, though the team was unable to determine exactly why dog ownership or living with a larger family offered this protection.
“we did not see the same results with cats, though we are still trying to determine why,” turpin said. “it could potentially be because dog owners get outside more often with their pets or live in areas with more green space, which has been shown previously to protect against crohn’s.”
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