Scientists Confirm That Kissing Your Dog Is Good For Health
It may seem repulsive, in addition to being a habit that surely leaves you without a partner, however, a group of scientists seems to have confirmed that kissing your dog is good for your health. This may seem like a contradiction to everything we knew about welfare, hygiene and responsible animal husbandry, so let’s take a closer look at this proposal:
Licking in dogs corresponds to our caresses, therefore they use their tongue to express affection. They have this behavior towards the people closest to them, or towards those who have earned their trust. In addition, it is a way of reaffirming the role of submission within the hierarchy of the home.
However, this habit of our little friend can become extremely unpleasant for us, especially since we have been brought up to think that the dog’s saliva is very dirty. What many of us did not know is that a recent study carried out at the University of Arizona points to the opposite.
According to project director Kim Kelly, dogs have evolved alongside us over the centuries, making us feel good about our relationship with them over time. According to preliminary research, dog owners tend to be happier, as well as stay healthy for longer, although the relationship between these elements is unclear.
According to Kelly’s hypothesis , the microbes present in the stomach of dogs have a probiotic effect on our body, promoting the growth of certain elements in our bacterial flora, which are extremely positive for us.
Changes in our microbiota (the set of microscopic organisms that coexist in our body) are decisive for our health and for the way in which our body defends itself against external agents.
Are all microorganisms good?
One question that you should be asking yourself is, if the changes in the microbiota are positive, should we expose ourselves to any microorganism coming into contact with our body? The answer to this is obviously no. In fact, one of the great achievements of medicine occurs when it is able to get rid or counteract the effects of the bacteria responsible for many diseases, however, not all of them are bad.
What happens to our body when there is the presence of one or more bacteria is that the microbiota composition of the body changes. This confuses the immune system and ends up attacking not only invading bacteria, but also attacks the body itself. This is due to the permanence of autoimmune diseases, for example asthma.
The ease with which many microorganisms invade our body is alarming, and is due in part to the massive use of antibiotics, which are responsible for extinguishing, in addition to the invader, the microbes that inhabit our body and function as a natural barrier for bacteria and viruses.
In addition to the excessive use of drugs, a poor diet, too careful or too restricted, does not allow the consumer to develop sufficient defenses against external agents. Likewise, the lack of exposure to natural environments and excess hygiene play a very important role in the weakening of the human organism.
However, contact with dogs, and especially with their saliva, makes the intestinal flora of their keepers stronger, due to prolonged exposure to foreign bacteria that are not harmful to our body.
Studies from different and recognized institutions agree that the intestinal flora of dog owners is different, richer and more varied than that of other people. Therefore, it is believed that the saliva of dogs works as a probiotic agent, which improves the health of the bacteria that live in the intestine, improving in the process, our resistance to other types of bacteria that are harmful to our health.
