Snot food is healthy
Snot is keeping us busy at the moment: the ‘R’ is back in the month and we are also dealing with the corona virus. What do we actually know about that slimy stuff? Is snot food healthy and can you make others sick with it? Time to separate the facts from the fables.
1. You only sniff when you have a cold
fable. Your airways are lined with mucous membrane, a protective layer that produces mucus. Even if you don’t have a cold, about 1 to 1.5 liters of snot is produced there per day. Fortunately, you hardly notice it, because you swallow it unnoticed.
Only if you make extra mucus or it thickens and starts running out of your nose, can that snot get in the way. This happens when you have a cold, but can also occur with an allergy.
2. Blowing is the best way to get rid of your runny nose
fable. Many people do this and it also seems logical, because after a lot of blowing you will lose your snot for a while. However, that is not the best way. If you blow hard, you increase the pressure in your nose. Channels run from your nose to various cavities in your skull. So while blowing, you squeeze snot containing viruses into these cavities, which can cause them to ignite.
You better turn your nose up. By sniffing your snot, you actually suck the mucus and snot out of your cavities. This way you reduce your chance of a sinus, sinus or ear infection.
3. Eating Snot is Healthy
Fact/Fable. Snot contains beneficial properties, such as proteins and immune cells, which are good for your immune system. It is just unclear how long these substances remain intact in our sour stomach. Moreover: we swallow a lot of snot every day, so it makes little difference if you pick your nose and eat a few extra (dried) snot. So it’s not necessarily healthy, but it can’t hurt either.
4. Snot is actually slime
Fact. Snot is mucus produced by the mucous membrane in your nose. This mucous membrane has an important function, because it traps unwanted bacteria and it lubricates the nose, so that it does not dry out. When mucus drips from your nose, we call it snot.
5. Healthy snot should be white in color
fable. If you’re healthy, snot should look clear and transparent. It has a sticky texture, which makes it look like glue. In this case, chances are you don’t have a virus or infection. There are of course exceptions: you can have an ear or sinus infection, while your snot is just clear in color. If you have other symptoms, always consult a doctor.
Is your snot white in color? Then you probably start to catch a cold. It may therefore be stickier and thicker than you are used to. This is because more snot is produced by your body. You may also be eating or drinking too many dairy products. The fat in dairy products makes your snot thicker and tougher. When you have a cold, it is therefore best to consume less dairy products.
6. You can make others sick with your snot
Fact. In addition to some good properties, Snot also contains a lot of virus particles. With highly contagious viruses, such as the common cold virus, you can easily ‘infect’ people with your snot. You can see this clearly in children at the nursery, who come into contact with each other all day long and almost always walk around with a runny nose.
According to infectiologist Louis Bont, snot plays a lesser role in the corona virus. “The data that is now available indicate that the virus mainly spreads through small droplets,” he says NRC. When you have to sneeze, only those droplets sometimes come out of your nose. That is why the advice is to sneeze and cough into the inside of your elbow and to wash your hands regularly.
7. Nose picking is harmful
Fact. Almost everyone picks their nose from time to time, but this is not a good habit. You damage the inside of your nose, making it easy to get a nosebleed. As a result, you can sometimes get scabs, which you then pick off again. When this becomes a vicious circle, you can even make a hole in your nasal septum in the long run.
8. Spraying and steaming helps against a stuffy nose
Fable/fact. “Spraying with a saline solution hardly helps, because the amount is too little,” says Carlijn Hoekstra, ENT doctor at Amsterdam UMC. NRC. Rinsing your nose with a larger amount of saline does help, she says. The salt attracts moisture from the mucous membranes and causes them to shrink.
There are also nasal drops or sprays with an active substance such as xylometazoline that cause the blood vessels of the mucous membranes to constrict. With these remedies you will get rid of your stuffy nose for a few hours, but your cold will not go away sooner. Steaming does help, because the steam from the hot water can loosen tough mucus.
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