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by Anonymous on January 27th, 2006

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Why do little kids eat their boogers?

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  • by Astaroth on January 29th, 2006

    Astaroth

    Well, to make my answer more general, let's clarify that not only little kids eats their boogers (tecnically known as "mucus"), big kids, grown-ups and old people do it too.

    The act of eating your mucus is known as "mucophagy" and is done by kids basically because they do not think about stuff likes adults do, they just do it and they do not think if it is gross or not, healthy or not, socially accepted or not. However is at that age that "mucophagy" starts. Some people will stop when they realize what they are doing, some people do not, and will keep doing it (in hiding) until they die. You can call it a "habit" and according to what I read....very hard to break.

    Well, for your information (gross or not) the average person eats about a quart of mucus (snot, phlegm or slime, as you like) per day. As you know the nose is connected to the same canal the mouth is connected and then to the esofagus, well the nose secretes mucus all day and a good amount of it goes down your throat. When mucus gets hard stays in the nose and well, those are the ones "mucuphagus" pick and eat.

    For your tranquility, mucus is basically water and salt, with some chemicals produced by the body. They are supposed to serve as a trap to incoming germs, pollen and dust.

    Believe it or not, there are people who actually believes that "mucophagy" is healthy because expose your body to germs and make you produce antibodies that will fight for you in your inmune system.

    Interesting, ain't it?

    Comments

    • Very interesting. Never knew that.

      just2mellow

      by just2mellow on February 4th, 2006

    • very interesting! I neverimagined there are people that know so much about 'mucophagy'. No offense :)

      Mihai Chira

      by Mihai Chira on February 4th, 2006

    • I am 13, and a 15 year old boy I know picks his nose, scabs and pimples.....and eats all of it....in front of everyone. Blech!

      LittleWhiteSock

      by LittleWhiteSock on March 11th, 2010

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