If we told you that through kissing we can get to transmit our oral microbiota to our partner, would you believe it? Well, incredible as it seems the answer is yes.
The Microbiome magazine published in 2014 a study in which it affirmed that the great majority of couples have a similar composition of oral microbiota so, the more we kiss each other the more possibilities we will have to exchange bacteria through saliva, especially if it is with a stable partner who lasts over time.
First of all, we will explain what oral microbiota is. Basically they are all the bacteria that live in our mouth and that can influence some aspects of our health. In the whole body live more or less 100 trillion microorganisms and most of them are in our intestines. When we practice this innocent and almost ancestral gesture of kissing, we are transferring approximately 80 million bacteria to our sexual partner, which causes us to introduce new and often beneficial bacteria into our mouths and then into our ecosystem.
This study interviewed 21 couples and asked them how often they practiced the noble art of kissing. Then the researchers consumed each subject a yogurt rich in probiotics that, as you know, are a very good source of what we call ” good bacteria ”. Finally, they analyzed the level of bacteria in their cheeks and concluded that couples who had kissed more often had ended up having a more similar microbiota than those who had kissed less.
Curious, right? Well, not only do we usually resemble our sexual partners in personality, values and bacteria, but also, they can be very useful scientifically. Bacteria help regulate many of the body’s processes at the same time they can be beneficial to our immune system, so exposing ourselves to other bacteria can be very beneficial for our health.
To all this, you will be asking what happens if my partner transfers me little beneficial bacteria? Well, you can rest assured, since the study concluded that we usually end up acquiring the beneficial oral microbiota of our partner and not the other way around.
So now you know, kiss and kiss more!
