The price of a kiss . Every time we kiss with passion, we massively transfer a large number of microorganisms to our partner and she to us. This has been the conclusion of the latest study carried out by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and published in the journal Microbione .
Not all people have the same type of microorganisms living inside our body (which help us digest food or prevent diseases), since genetics, diet or age influence the microbiome (community of microorganisms) of each person. The mouth is the area of our body in which more types of bacteria can live (up to 700 varieties) and its variety also depends on the people with whom we spend the most time .
For their experiment, the researchers asked 21 couples to fill out a questionnaire about their affective behavior, especially in relation to kissing. After this, they took samples from the mouths (saliva and tongue) of all of them to analyze the exact composition of the microbiota of each one. The results revealed that the more a couple kissed (at least nine times a day), the more similar their bacteria communities were . In fact, after each intense kiss, the scientists found that about 80 million bacteria were transferred.
“ The most intimate kisses involve full contact of the tongues and an exchange of saliva that constitutes a unique behavior in nature and that is common in 90% of known cultures . Common explanations of the role that kisses play in humans typically assign a very important role to the microbiota present in the oral cavity, although the exact effects of kissing have never been studied. We wanted to find out to what extent couples share their oral microbiota. And it turns out that the more a couple kisses, the more similar their bacterial communities will be, ”says Remco Kort, leader of the study.
