# Why do people eat mucus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855 "2014-06-02T19:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/1 "2014-06-02T19:12:36Z")
I saw, way more than once… people sticking their fingers up their nose, pulling out a fat one and happily sticking them up their mouth - and down the hatch they go! I find this quite disgusting, but it seems that there are [studies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_mucus) that show this is actually HEALTHY. Why the hell would someone do that? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/2 "2014-06-02T19:29:34Z")
Because it’s less gross, disgusting, and unsanitary than wiping their boogers on the table or drapes for someone else to find? ---
**Author:** ![RiCu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@RiCu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiCu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/3 "2014-06-02T19:45:40Z")
> [@Artemis\_Tardis](#): > > oactually HEALTHY. Healthy as in beneficial, or just not detrimental? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/4 "2014-06-02T19:50:50Z")
I had a cousin that used to do that and not even be aware she was doing it. I don’t pay much attention when a 3 year old does it. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/5 "2014-06-02T20:04:23Z")
> [@RiCu](#): > > Healthy as in beneficial, or just not detrimental? IIRC, the mucus captures pathogens, your digestive system weakens them, and your immune system learns how to fight the weakened germs. It’s like a natural vaccine against whatever you’re breathing in. Or so the theory goes. I’m not a doctor, don’t eat your boogers on my account. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/6 "2014-06-03T00:25:56Z")
The entirety of our gastrointestinal pathway is lined in mucous tissue that (surprise) produces mucus. There’s no way to avoid eating mucus, since it’s constantly being produced internally everywhere along the way from lips to anus. I think the OP means “nasal mucus”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/7 "2014-06-03T04:28:22Z")
Is it any different than sniffling it back down? ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/8 "2014-06-03T04:44:08Z")
> [@RiCu](#): > > Healthy as in beneficial, or just not detrimental? A litre or two dirty green-black slime comes up from your lungs ( via the trachea… wind pipe… cleaning the lungs) each day … you drink it without noticing. It goes down into esophagus - ,down where food and drink go… The little bit of bacteria in the snot from the nose-finger-mouth route is insignificant… The “suck the phlegm out of the sinus and into the mouth” trick is also insignificant in terms of gastro bugs… the phlegm was leaking out of the sinus straight into the esophagus anyway… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/9 "2014-06-03T06:01:48Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > A litre or two dirty green-black slime comes up from your lungs ( via the trachea… wind pipe… cleaning the lungs) each day … you drink it without noticing. > It goes down into esophagus - ,down where food and drink go… > > The little bit of bacteria in the snot from the nose-finger-mouth route is insignificant… > > The “suck the phlegm out of the sinus and into the mouth” trick is also insignificant in terms of gastro bugs… the phlegm was leaking out of the sinus straight into the esophagus anyway… One of the factors that lead to my mother’s death, following a painful upper-body injury, was the fact that she wasn’t swallowing/clearing her throat/coughing enough. The fluids drained into her lungs, not her stomach. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-eat-mucus/689855/10 "2014-06-03T14:07:34Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Because it’s less gross, disgusting, and unsanitary than wiping their boogers on the table or drapes for someone else to find? That’s what I said when my then-bf’s son was “picking”. The dad said “I can see picking it, but why EATING it?” I said “I’d rather him eat it than wipe it on the furniture or something.”