German Study Tracks 1,000 Newborns; €2M Funds Forest Play Trial
Bielefeld – November 04, 2026 -- Germany's federal research ministry is funding a sub-study worth roughly €2 million to test whether regular forest play changes children's risk of allergies, asthma and ADHD. The trial sits inside a long-term cohort of about 1,000 newborns in the East Westphalia-Lippe region.
The parent project, "Kleine Eulen OWL", is run by a research team at Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel (EvKB) at University Hospital OWL. The source describes it as unique nationwide. It follows the children into adulthood to map how the microbiome develops and how early living conditions affect later disease risk. Over the first six years of life, researchers analyze the influence of genes, pregnancy and birth, stress, environment, family, pets, lifestyle and medication on the microbiome.