by Sara McGinnis posted in Parenting

You can can choose your friends, but sadly you don't get a say in whether or not you'll be raising a nose-picking, booger-eating child. As frustrating (and disgusting) as it can be to have a little one who can't keep their fingers out of their nose, it turns out there's a silver lining to ingesting all that scavenged snot.
The next time your child's teacher complains about their habits, inform them that "salivary mucins protect surfaces from colonization by cariogenic bacteria," which just so happens to be the title of a new study touting the benefits of eating boogers. You see, that mucus we think of as nasty is actually full of good bacteria that helps your teeth. The "salivary mucins" in snot stop harmful cavity-causing bacteria from latching on. "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," Austrian lung specialist Friedrich Bischinger told KidSpot.
"And 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."
If only it were more socially acceptable"

However, it's not all good news for the nose. Picking can introduce germs into the nose and cause nosebleeds, particularly in children, according to NYU otolaryngologist Erich P. Voight.
W...