The skin microbiota and allergic diseases in children in relation to nature connection of Finnish daycares

Activities in green outdoor environments provide several health benefits for children. A large proportion of children attend to daycare in each weekday, and thus daycare practices greatly influence the nature connection children have. We have combined results of three interacting research projects including 1) nation-wide survey about nature connection in Finnish daycares (n = 706), 2) the comparison of home- and daycare nurtured children (n = 25), and 3) the comparison of children (n = 68) attending to dissimilar types of daycare into one research narrative. Results show that the nature-related practices are common and appreciated in the Finnish daycares, but the type and amount of these are affected by the attitude of workers, the outdoor possibilities in surrounding environment, and daycare participation to nature-related concept. The skin microbiota is more diverse and has dissimilar composition in children attending nature-oriented daycares when compared to children in city-center daycares or in normal daycares between these extremes. We did not discover interaction between daycare-type or microbiota with allergic diseases, likely because of cross-sectional data. In conclusion, prominent nature-connection in daycares can shape the skin microbiota in children. Further, longitudinal studies should address the potential of this in modulating the immune function in children as suggested in biodiversity hypothesis