# Why do kids eat snot? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505 "2010-02-03T07:21:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/1 "2010-02-03T07:21:08Z")
FWIW, [Kissinger does, or did](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/uncyclopedia/images/5/5f/Snotsurprise.jpg). Is it nothing more than because it–the mouth–is there? And it’s handy, and after the pick, which is satisfying in so many ways–for adults too, as we know–they have to get rid of it, and do so in the most convenient manner possible? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/2 "2010-02-03T08:13:07Z")
If you want to research this further, and I’m sure as hell not going to, the technical term for the practice is “mucophagy”. A [survey on rhinotillexomania](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7852253), the technical term for nose-picking in general, suggests (according to results I read about in [this discussion](http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Mucophagy-t55427.html)) that there’s a salty taste (as in sweat and blood) that makes mucophagy appealing to young children. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/3 "2010-02-03T08:15:29Z")
Because it’s a free snack? And a calorie-free snack at that. It was already part of ones body, so how could putting it back into ones body cause any weight gain? ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/4 "2010-02-03T15:19:01Z")
I ate a lot of boogers as a kid. They were salty, which I liked. They also had varying textures. The soft ones were my favorite. Every now and then I would get one that was like a sac of snot. They were the best. I could have flicked them away, as many kids do (your average kid’s home is filthy with discarded boogers), but I chose to eat them. I don’t think the convenience of not having to find a way to dispose of them is a big factor. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyFrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@JerseyFrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyFrank)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/5 "2010-02-03T15:21:53Z")
My 3 year old picks & eats. When I catch her picking and suggest she get a tissue to wipe off her finger, she replies, “I’m looking for something good!” ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/6 "2010-02-03T17:40:08Z")
> [@JerseyFrank](#): > > My 3 year old picks & eats. When I catch her picking and suggest she get a tissue to wipe off her finger, she replies, “I’m looking for something good!” I would be the last person on earth to suggest that this is a comment on your cooking. – 74westy – reformed mucophage. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/7 "2010-02-03T18:20:41Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Because it’s a free snack? > > And a calorie-free snack at that. It was already part of ones body, so how could putting it back into ones body cause any weight gain? It was already on it’s way out of your body. Putting it back in will cause a weight gain when compared to not putting it back in. An infinitesimal gain, yes, but calorie-free it ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/8 "2010-02-03T18:26:26Z")
> [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > I ate a lot of boogers as a kid. They were salty, which I liked. They also had varying textures. The soft ones were my favorite. Every now and then I would get one that was like a sac of snot. They were the best. > > I could have flicked them away, as many kids do […] but I chose to eat them. I don’t think the convenience of not having to find a way to dispose of them is a big factor. 😉 Are you just trying to gross us out? Or is that a fringe benefit of your post? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/9 "2010-02-04T04:20:15Z")
> [@naita](#): > > It was already on it’s way out of your body. Putting it back in will cause a weight gain when compared to not putting it back in. An infinitesimal gain, yes, but calorie-free it ain’t. You’re going to have to defend this.:D:p\* “_On it’s way out_” is not the same as it not being there in the first place. How could putting the same amount of weight, no mater how infinitesimal, back into the host it was removed from possibly cause a weight gain? \*We’re arguing about the weight gain caused by eating boogers. We gotta meet over some brews and talk this out! What kind of beer they got in Norway? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/10 "2010-02-04T05:23:59Z")
I swear, I was a kid that never did this. To me, it’s really, really distasteful, no pun intended. I saw my younger brother do it as a kid, and I never looked at him the same way again. 🙂 Now, sometimes removing debris from the nasal passages via digital manipulation is very efficient, but to eat it? Nope, not me. Why do kids do it? I do not know. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/11 "2010-02-04T05:44:02Z")
Re: Kissinger-- those were different fingers! Pinkie in the nose, last three in the mouth. I do like the expression of the guy behind him in the first pic, though: “WTF is he doing? Doesn’t he know there are cameras right there?” ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/12 "2010-02-04T05:47:31Z")
Evolution — mucophagy strengthens the immune system (practice makes perfect, and all). (Posting from iPhone, too difficult to link to cite. Google will back me up, to one degree or another.) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/13 "2010-02-04T17:49:52Z")
Some say mucophagy is gross, but it’s not. (Just remembered that one. A thread is going on re that goodie called [Poop on my knee…Mustard my hole](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=550050&highlight=mustard).) ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/14 "2010-02-04T18:41:49Z")
If I recollect correcly, my motivations as a kid were mainly: - pick booger: because of the agreeable feeling of unblocking the nose - eat booger: because it was the _least messy_ method of disposal. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/15 "2010-02-04T23:15:23Z")
Another former kid who found it the easiest way to dispose of them. In my case it began after a babysitter said “I’m going to gather up all the boogers you leave behind and put them on a plate so I can give them to your mom.” Yup, she was always an odd one. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/16 "2010-02-06T09:49:04Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > > [@naita](#): > > > > It was already on it’s way out of your body. **Putting it back in will cause a weight gain when compared to not putting it back in.** An infinitesimal gain, yes, but calorie-free it ain’t. > > You’re going to have to defend this.:D:p\* > > “_On it’s way out_” is not the same as it not being there in the first place. > > How could putting the same amount of weight, no mater how infinitesimal, back into the host it was removed from possibly cause a weight gain? I admit the first sentence is not strictly accurate, but I’ve allowed myself to bold the important statement in my post. Most nasal mucus makes its own way inwards to the back of the throat and on to the stomach, but what we pick out as boogers are, at least in part, made up of stuff that would, some way or another, leave our bodies through the nostrils. Thus, if you are currently in a state of perfect weight balance, starting to eat your boogers will lead to weight gain. > [@](#): > > \*We’re arguing about the weight gain caused by eating boogers. We gotta meet over some brews and talk this out! What kind of beer they got in Norway? All kinds. But I’m not a beer drinker. 😃 Also it wouldn’t take long enough for you to see I’m right. We’d have still have full glasses of whatever, and nothing else to talk about. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/17 "2010-02-06T10:09:14Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > I swear, I was a kid that never did this. To me, it’s really, really distasteful, no pun intended. I saw my younger brother do it as a kid, and I never looked at him the same way again. 🙂 > > Now, sometimes removing debris from the nasal passages via digital manipulation is very efficient, but to eat it? Nope, not me. > > Why do kids do it? I do not know. Same here, I “picked” a lot as a kid. Even to the point of coming down with a truly nasty case of impatigo in my nose (hey, I was like 7). But I was never once tempted to eat. Why would I? It’s nasal excrement. I’ve never had any urge to eat _other_ kinds of excement, why this one? Never understood it, always found it disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-eat-snot/527505/18 "2010-02-06T16:09:12Z")
No idea. I always found this extremely disgusting. I wasn’t grossed out if a little clear snot, say from my nose running in the cold, got in my mouth, but boogers? No way. Not even once.Everyone seemed to do it when I was little (4 and up - I remember being shocked by it in preschool), and many of my friends did it for longer. I catch adults doing it all the time. Nasty.