Can Eating Food From The Floor Be Helpful?

Video: Can Eating Food From The Floor Be Helpful?

Video: Can Eating Food From The Floor Be Helpful?
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Can Eating Food From The Floor Be Helpful?
Can Eating Food From The Floor Be Helpful?
Anonim

Everyone has seen the freshly made sandwich slip out of his hands and fall (of course) with the butter down. You may have had a brief hesitation whether to take it or throw it away, but then you think of the right 5 seconds and eventually eat the delicious slice.

The 5-second rule seems to be valid all over the world. However, various scientific circles warn that any food that has been in contact with the floor should be discarded because there is a danger that it has become infected with at least the bacterium Escherichia coli.

But are they right? According to many experts, eating food from the floor is the culinary version of Russian roulette, but there are those who defend the thesis that these actions make us healthier because they strengthen our immunity.

The proponent of the first thesis is Dr. Lisa Ackerley from the Royal Institute of Science in London. She says potentially deadly bacteria can quickly colonize food that falls to the floor. Silent killers, as she calls microorganisms, can multiply to several million in just seven hours.

The three most dangerous infectious bacteria lurking on the floors are Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella. The first causes urinary tract infections, the second - skin infections, and the third - stomach cramps and diarrhea.

At the other extreme is Anthony Hilton, a professor of microbiology at the University of Ashton in Birmingham. He says more than 87 percent of people follow the 5-second rule. However, this does not lead to mass epidemics in Europe. According to him, it is completely safe to take food from the floor, as long as, of course, you react quickly enough.

Bacteria
Bacteria

I have three grown boys who literally ate sandwiches that fell to the floor in their early years. I know my home is clean. The risk of transmitting the infection to fallen food is minimal, Hilton said.

His research has shown that bacteria cannot be transferred immediately to food that has fallen to the floor. This takes at least 20 seconds. However, the professor recommends following the rule for 5 seconds. It reassures that even if food falls to the floor, if you keep it clean, you are not at risk of infection.

Karen Amato of Northwestern University in Illinois goes even further. She believes that eating food that has fallen on the floor will lead to the adoption of a kind of friendly microbes that will help the body build defenses against infections.

The microbes that live inside us are even larger than human cells. New research has even shown how friendly bacteria can maintain our health in surprisingly different ways, even helping to prevent diabetes and skin infections and protecting us from developing allergies such as asthma, psoriasis and eczema.

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