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People living along the border between Finland and Russia are yielding valuable data that could shed light on people’s relationship with nature—particularly when it comes to the link between environmental exposure and immune health. During the Second World War, Finland ceded a large swath of territory to the Soviet Union. In the second half of the 20th century, the Finnish side became modernized, while people on the Soviet side maintained a traditional lifestyle. And by the 21st century, according to a study carried out by researchers at the University of Helsinki, the prevalence of allergies on Finland’s side of the border region known as Karelia was significantly higher than that of people living on the Russian side.
Immunologist Nanna Fyhrquist, who joined the University of Helsinki team in 2011 and helped carry out the research, wanted to know why. The group suspected that the differences in ...
