Loading...
It is commonplace for physicians to advise asthma or allergy sufferers to avoid feather pillows, on the assumption that such pillows may exacerbate their symptoms. The evidence supporting this recommendation is not very strong, however. These New Zealand researchers assessed the allergenic potential of both feather and polyester fiber pillows.
Since the house dust mite allergen (Der p I) is a major cause of allergic symptoms, investigators measured the amount of this allergen in nine pairs of pillows--each pair consisting of one feather-filled pillow and one polyester fiber-filled pillow. All pairs had been in use for at least six months. Overall analysis showed that polyester fiber pillows contained over 8 times more total weight of Der p I…