A rare study about vacuum-cleaning, pregnancy, and microbes, in houses:
“Potential association of vacuum cleaning frequency with an altered gut microbiota in pregnant women and their 2-year-old children,” Ekaterina Avershina, Anuradha Ravi, Ola Storrø, Torbjørn Øien, Roar Johnsen and Knut Rudi, Microbiome, vol. 3, no. 65, December 21, 2015. (Thanks to Rom Gavitz for bringing this to our attention.) The researchers, at Norwegian University of Life Sciences, report:
“We found that high vacuum cleaning frequency about twice or more a week was associated with an altered gut microbiota composition both during pregnancy and for 2-year-old children, while there were no associations with house washing frequency.”
Here’s part 1 of a music video by Aliqua about how to vacuum your house:
And here’s further detail from the study:
