Do you remember when you were in kindergarten or first grade and there was someone in your class who was a serial nose-picker? You or some of your classmates may have caught him doing the act at some point.

That kind of behavior was considered to be impolite by teachers and elders, especially when done in public. Most of the time, other kids make fun of the nose-picker.

But what if nose-pickers were just doing the right thing? In fact, research says that picking your nose and eating it may boost your health.

Biochemistry professor Scott Napper from University of Saskatchewan has hypothesized that nose-picking may offer health benefits:

“By consuming those pathogens caught within the mucus, could that be a way to teach your immune system about what it’s surrounded with?”

So, a research has been conducted on the properties of mucus which lends some weight to the concept.

It was found that there are chemicals in salivary mucins or boogers that can help protect our teeth from cavities-causing bacteria. But to reap this benefit, boogers have to be ingested through our mouths.

But the findings show more than they expected. According to Austrian lung specialist Friedrich Bischinger, there should be no stigma attached or social shame in picking our noses.

“Eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body’s immune system,” he said.

“Medically it makes great sense and it is a perfectly natural thing to do. 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.”

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