House Dust: What Is It and Why Can It Be Problematic?
The makeup of your house dust influences allergic risk.
House dust
House dust is a collection of fine particles such as dead skin cells, hair, dirt, pollen, bacteria, textile fibers, microplastics, and many other things.83
Problems with house dust:
- Toxins
- Dust mites
- Poor microbial diversity
Toxins
Depending on the air quality of your environment, and the products you bring into your home, your house dust can contain unhealthy levels of toxins.
Particles in house dust readily absorb these toxins, which are later absorbed through the skin, breathed in, and ingested.83
Toxins increase the prevalence of allergies by: (6, 17, 19, 116)
- Disturbing the microbiome
- Disrupting immunological barriers
- Acting as an adjuvant to promote sensitization to allergens
- Shifting immune profile to pro-allergic
- Disrupting the immune system's ability to induce tolerance
Dust mites
Like all living things, dust mites need two things to survive, food and water.
It turns out that our indoor environments, and consequently house dust, are the perfect resource for their survival. Dust mites eat the many organic particles in house dust and absorb water vapor from the air.84 Many homes have a relative humidity of >65%, allowing adequate amounts of water to be available for dust mites to thrive.85
Allergens from dust mites are found in their feces and exoskeleton, which at higher concentrations in house dust are more likely to cause sensitization.86
Dust mites promote allergies by:
- Increasing barrier permeability(87, 88)
- Acting as an adjuvant to promote sensitization to allergens(87, 89, 90, 91)
Essentially, the more dust mite byproducts in house dust, the higher the chance that a child will develop an allergy to house dust mite allergens or other allergens encountered with the byproducts.
Microbial diversity
A "farm effect" has been documented among children growing up on farms. Studies show that these children have fewer allergies.
Interestingly, a farming environment supports rich microbial diversity in the house dust of farm homes. These microbes shape the microbiomes of farm children and offer a protective effect against allergies.(63, 73)
Fostering healthy and diverse indoor microbes is imperative in preventing allergies.