What happens in our body when we kiss? Does something change inside us?
When a couple kisses for at least 10 seconds, a minimum of 80 million bacteria are transferred. Likewise, couples who kiss at least nine times a day tend to have similar bacterial communities, according to Remco Kort et al. (2014) in the study “Shaping the oral microbiota through intimate kissing.” While the exact effects of an intimate kiss have never been fully studied, the research showed that such contact influences the ecosystem living in people’s mouths.
The microbiota—the ecosystem of more than 100 trillion microorganisms living in our bodies—is essential for digesting food, synthesizing nutrients, and preventing disease. It is shaped by genetics, diet, and age, but also by the people we interact with.
The mouth, which hosts more than 700 varieties of bacteria, appears to have its oral microbiota influenced by those closest to us.
Scientists from Micropia and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) studied 21 couples, asking them to complete questionnaires about their kissing behavior, including the average frequency of their intimate kisses. Then, they collected samples to analyze the composition of bacterial flora on the tongue and in saliva (El Espectador, February 2019).
The results showed that when couples kiss intimately with relatively high frequency, their salivary microbiotas become similar.
It seems that even if you follow a healthy diet and your partner does not, both of your microbiotas will still become similar as long as you keep kissing—since there is a biological “communication” between you and your partner (E. Münger et al., 2018).
That’s why we encourage you to create a family nutrition plan. Everyone at home should eat healthy—so everyone can stay healthy.
References:
- Remco Kort, Martien Caspers, Astrid van de Graaf, Wim van Egmond, Bart Keijser and Guus Roeselers. Shaping the oral microbiota through intimate kissing. Microbiome 2014 2:41 https://doi.org/10.1186/2049-2618-2-41
- El amor según las bacterias. El Espectador. Febrero, 2019. https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/salud/el-amor-segun-bacterias-articulo-548017
- Reciprocal Interactions Between Gut Microbiota and Host Social Behavior
- Emmanuelle Münger, Augusto J. Montiel-Castro, Wolfgang Langhans, Gustavo Pacheco-López. Front Integr Neurosci. 2018; 12: 21. Published online 2018 Jun https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6006525/
NutriWhite Editorial Team
