Lately, it seems like there's a study for anything you can think of, from medicines that could cause autism to the benefits of pushy mothers. Now scientists are making another claim that encourages a frowned upon behavior that most parents will find hard to stomach.
As every parent is aware, children love to pick their noses and disgustingly enough, their first instinct is to eat it up. Most of the time you try to dissuade them from doing so but it turns out that you may have just been wasting your energy.
According to a recent study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, boogers are actually beneficial to our health in many ways and parents should encourage their kids to keep eating them.
It sounds gross but the study outlines some well-researched scientific basis to support their findings.
Apparently, those who eat boogers have better teeth because the salivary mucins in snot protects teeth by forming a barrier against harmful cavity-causing bacteria.
Scientists are also claiming that boogers have similar benefits to some vaccines. They have the potential to strengthen the immune system and protect an individual against respiratory infection, stomach ulcers and even HIV.
Professor Friedrich Bischinger, Australian lung specialist is convinced that people who eat mucus are much healthier and happier than those who don't.
Eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system. Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do," Bischinger said. "In terms of the immune system, the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine."
This new development has researchers looking into ways in which mucus could be incorporated in people's diets. So far they're considering creating synthetic mucus that can be turned into chewing gum or toothpaste. Yumm!
Will you let your kids eat their boogers? Let us know in the comments!
[h/t: Huffpost]
