Ewwww…
The team of nine students instructed volunteers to take a bite of a wheat cracker and dip the cracker for three seconds into about a tablespoon of a test dip. They then repeated the process with new crackers, for a total of either three or six double dips per dip sample. The team then analyzed the remaining dip and counted the number of aerobic bacteria in it. They didn’t determine whether any of the bacteria were harmful, and didn’t count anaerobic bacteria, which are harder to culture, or viruses.
[…]
On average, the students found that three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip. Each cracker picked up between one and two grams of dip. That means that sporadic double dipping in a cup of dip would transfer at least
50 to 100 bacteria from one mouth to another with every bite.
Posted: January 31st, 2008 under food, personal, science.
Comments: 10
Comments
Comment from porknbean
Time: January 31, 2008, 8:45 pm
I worked with a gal, who after a night of sharing drinks with a group of friends, came down with impetigo. In her mouth. Half of her drinking buds had it too. A mouth full of pustulent open sores. It looked awful and she had a hard time talking.
Oh, and she manned the grill at the small restaurant there.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 31, 2008, 8:47 pm
Remember they used to say the last swig of a bottle of Coke was 80% spit?
I suspect that’s bullshit…but I don’t share my Coke, either.
Comment from porknbean
Time: January 31, 2008, 10:22 pm
Hmm…the drink they were passing around was a Big Gulp of spiked Coke.
Comment from Muslihoon
Time: January 31, 2008, 11:26 pm
The only things I drink are water and chocolate milkshakes. (Why, yes, I classify “milkshake” solely as a beverage.) A vanilla milkshake if I’m daring.
I think it’s been over a year that I have had a milkshake.
But I must tell you: one of the most sublime feelings in the entire world is the feeling of relief and satiation when one finally drinks water after experiencing hyperglycemia-induced thirst. (Hyperglycemia = high blood sugar.) It’s better than sex, I tell you.
(This is one reason why I always carry a bottle of water with me wherever I go. I never know when I might have such high blood sugar, and experiencing that thirst without being able to relieve it is almost anxiety-inducing. Some used to make fun of me until I explained why I do it.) (And I never share my water. If someone else drinks from my bottle, I’ll not drink from it until I can empty it out, rinse it, and refill it.)
My new slogan: Drink water! It’s better than sex! (If you’re diabetic.)
Any surprise I’m single?
Comment from Lokki
Time: February 1, 2008, 11:56 am
So the moral of the story is
Only share drink or dip with people whom you love enough to kiss.
Sounds like words to live by if you ask me.
Comment from Gibby Haynes
Time: February 1, 2008, 12:19 pm
Right. Right. I don’t share my coke either (too expensive). And I only share my venereal diseases with people I really care about.
By the way, in the article, the term ‘cracker’ is used. I find that highly offensive.
Also, the article is highly discriminatory against bacteria. Bacteria are people too.
I’m going to write a strongly-worded letter to my local MP (Member of Parliament, not Military Policeman; that’d just be…silly) to highlight my unhappiness about this article and sign it with a made-up name.
Tschüss.
Comment from Dawn
Time: February 1, 2008, 1:50 pm
I thought I would give everyone the heads up – Only four more shopping days until Pnacake Day.
Comment from Dawn
Time: February 1, 2008, 1:51 pm
Pnacake Day – now that doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Pancake Day. Dang Fingers!
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 1, 2008, 4:49 pm
Shoot. I wanted to celebrate Pnacake Day 🙁
Comment from Lokki
Time: February 1, 2008, 5:06 pm
Well, Weas, you CAN –
Here’s a Finnish Oven Pnacake recipe!
http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/695/finnish-oven-pnacake.html
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