[stavros]

When I was young, I would play in my (outdoor) sandbox and then lick the dirt off my hands, because it tasted good. I still got asthma, though.

My hypothesis for why children in rural areas get less asthma is because there's less air pollution, not because they eat dirt.

[rwyinuse]

It's all quite random and also depends on genetics. I lived in rural area with very little air pollution, played outside. Yet I got multiple allergies, including hay fever, and hay was plenty in the area. Many of my close relatives have some auto-immune related diseases as well.

[xboxnolifes]

These sort of events tend to happen at the statistical level, not the individual level. You can't disprove them from one instance of a negative outcome. It's like saying you smoke but never got cancer, or you don't smoke but still got cancer.

[somedude895]

Licking dirt off your hands isn't the same as being exposed to pollen.

[lazide]

In an outdoor sandbox? Sure it is. Where do you think all that pollen goes when it falls out of the air?

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Is there more or less pollen in rural areas?