Picking your nose and eating it is one of the best ways to stay healthy, according to a top Austrian doctor.
Lung specialist Dr Friedrich Bischinger said people who pick their noses with their fingers and eat the contents were healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies.
Bischinger is now recommending that all people should take up the unpleasant habit, and especially children so they can build up their immune system.
He said: "Eating the dry remains of what you pull of your nose is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system.
"In terms of the immune system the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria is collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine.
Bischinger also pointed out that nearly all children happily pick their noses, yet by the time they have become adults they have stopped under pressure from a society that has branded it disgusting and anti-social.
He added: "I would recommend a new approach where children are encouraged to pick their nose. It is a completely natural response and medically a good idea as well."
