Why you should encourage your kids to pick their nose and eat their bogies - and maybe do it yourself

Swatting away your child's grubby finger as it inches towards their nose is a reflex most parents have down to a fine art.

Most likely, it's a mechanical response we picked up from our own parents' attempts to get us to stop having a good old nose-mine.

Nose-picking is considered to be bad for a number of reasons. It's unhygienic. It can tear the fragile skin inside our nostrils. You run the risk of developing synusitis.

It also looks gross.

So many parents - and adults in general - may be surprised to know they should be ENCOURAGING their kids to pick away.

Not only that...

But - brace yourselves - parents should also not get angry when their bundle of joy tries to surreptitiously (or not) eat whatever it is they've found.

Should we be following suit?

It turns out, bogies and snot aren't simply disgusting by-products of the body.

A study has instead uncovered a raft of health benefits, which could advantage growing children in particular.

As Kidspot reports, snot is an amazing source of good bacteria which helps our teeth and mucus forms a helpful barrier against bad bacteria.

Who bogies had so many health benefits?

Snot contains salivary mucins which in fact protect our teeth from the bacteria strains which cause cavities by preventing it from attaching itself to teeth.

Based on this discovery, the researchers who led the study are looking to make a synthetic mucus which could be be a key ingredient in the form of chewing gum or toothpaste.

You know for a fact your child will definitely brush their teeth of you tell them it's bogie toothpaste.

Will this theory catch on though?

There's also some evidence the mucus in snot could defend against respiratory infection, stomach ulcers and HIV.

The list of reported benefits goes on and on.

According to Austrian lung specialist Prof Friedrich Bischinger, people who pick their noses are healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies.

His advice is to remove the stigma we all attach to picking our noses (and eating the contents) and embracing it.

X-Times-the-Tories-should-have-put-on-a-proper-suit-and-done-up-their-ties

"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," he said.

"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."