Helpful or Harmful?

Antibacterial Soaps

Antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers have become enormously popular accessories beside sinks everywhere and even within handy reach of supermarket shopping carts. It’s not that there are more germs and bacteria at large than there were 20 years ago, but we’ve grown much more paranoid about them. Antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers may not be the best answer for confronting them. Consider the following:

1. A lot of bacteria are benign and helpful—such as those in our digestive tracts, that are in large part responsible for healthy digestion and nutrient absorption and are essential to our immune system. Antibacterial products kill bacteria indiscriminately, wiping out the good with the bad.
2. Constant use of antibacterial cleansers may mess with our immune systems. While bacteria and germs are everywhere, they have a tough time infiltrating our bodies because our bodies are designed with many levels of defense. However, our immune systems get lazy when all of the low-grade, day-to-day defense work is done for us. This can become a big issue when the nasty stuff comes along. A strong immune system is one that’s kept in fit, fighting form.
3. Casual, regular use of antibacterial products promotes the growth of resistant strains of bacteria and germs. This may spell trouble for antibiotic medicines in the long run. Over time, our most effective antibiotics will be rendered powerless. We need antibiotics for the really nasty bacteria and pathogens such as Staphylococcus and E. coli, not for the common kinds that mill around in the bathroom and kitchen.
4. Research actually links excessive hygiene with an increase in allergies, asthma, and eczema in some individuals.