Everytime I’m sick, a friend of mine brings up this nugget of “knowledge”: phlegm never leaves the body unless you blow your nose – no digestion, no absorption… nothing. Now I’m thinking this can’t POSSIBLY be true (after all, this is the woman who believes fiberglass is an ingredient in Cap’n Crunch). So what does happen? Give me some real knowledge, folks! Thanks.
It gets swallowed.
No, seriously. If it doesn’t get sneezed, dripped, blown, or dried out and picked, then it runs down the back of the throat and gets swallowed.
Tell that to your friend.
Most phlegm (or at least the nasal, sinus, and respiratory secretions that most think of as phlegm) ends up in the stomach, where it gets eroded by acids, then on into the intestines, where its constituent polysaccharides, amino acids, and trace fatty acids are re-absorbed.
QtM, MD