Your status as a middle, youngest, oldest, or (gasp) only child has become as much of an identity marker as your star sign for some.
But according to doctor Karan Rajan, there is some truth to the perceived differences ― at least when it comes to your health.
Speaking to gut health company ZOE’s co-founder Jonathan Wolf on the brand’s podcast, the doctor explained that research “suggests that the youngest child is probably the best” placed to avoid certain conditions.
Why?
It’s all down to our immune systems.
Dr Karan Rajan said youngest children may have a lower risk of developing some autoimmune conditions and allergies “because [they’re] getting these infections from their older siblings and interactions from these people.”
“There’s more diversity in their environment [than their brothers and sisters] because the elder [siblings] just had themselves,” he shared.
Though he says you definitely “don’t want to introduce unnecessary pathogens to children,” he adds that “you don’t want a super sterile environment” either as their microbiome and immune system are built on “good” bacteria.
A 2016 paper published in Immunology seemed to confirm the doctor’s comment.
The study, which looked at the health of British children over 23 years, found that the more older siblings a child had, the less likely they are to form allergies.
But the researchers said another element ― the mother’s body ― could aid potential bacterial help further, sharing that babies born to a mother who’d been pregnant before had more immune-boosting proteins.
The longer it had been since the mother’s last birth, the lower the amount of these proteins the newest child seemed to receive.
Anything else?
Yes ― there are some data to suggest that first-borns are the tallest, with second, third, fourth, and so on-borns getting progressively shorter.
Firstborns are also apparently more likely to become CEOs.
Middle-born siblings, meanwhile, may be more relationship-focused than their siblings, which can help their careers.
I’d say “that’s nothing to sneeze at,” but as a last-born, I don’t sneeze much to begin with...