Gross habit can ‘trigger brain inflammation that leads to Alzheimer’s’, scientists warn...

THOUGH it's frowned upon in public, most of us will sometimes stick a finger up our nostril when we think nobody's looking.

But this gross but seemingly harmless act might have some unforeseen health consequences, with researchers claiming nose picking could be linked to Alzheimer's disease.

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Researchers compared chronic nose-picking to "death by a thousand cuts" - and it's not the first time the link has been made.

Digging into your schnoz could allow bacteria, viruses and fungi to enter the brain and increase the risk of developing dementia, the new research published in Biomolecules has suggested.

The Australian research team behind the paper noted that the brain robbing disease responsible for memory loss and cognitive decline "is a complex neurodegenerative disorder" that can be caused "many possible factors".

One of the key hallmarks of Alzheimer's is the buildup of two substances in the brain, amyloid and tau, which form plaques and tangles and impede brain function.

"But more recent evidence suggests that neuroinflammation may also play an at least partial role" in the development of the disease, researchers argued - this refers to an inflammatory response in the brain triggered by injury or infection.

"Emerging research has explored the possible involvement of external, invading pathogens in starting or accelerating the neuroinflammatory processes in Alzheimer's disease," researchers explained.

The improvement of hand hygiene might be an easy prevention step

The researchers

After completing a review of thousands of studies, they said the olfactory system - which includes the nasal cavity and nerve cells involved in our sense of smell - is "a plausible route" for pathogens to enter the brain.

Pathogens that might be linked to neurinflammation include herpes, Covid-19 viruses or bacteria that cause pneumonia or bronchitis, it was claimed.

Solutions for 'incurable nose-pickers'

Reflecting on the review's results, researchers suggested paying extra attention to hand washing.

"Among all the entry routes, the improvement of hand hygiene might be an easy prevention step, as learned from the Covid-19 epidemic," they explained.

"One of the lessons learned from Covid-19 is the value of hand hygiene through frequent hand washing and the use of hand sanitisers, and we suggest these routine hygienic procedures be mandatory routine procedures for the incurable nose-picker."

However, the Western Sydney University team did question whether nose picking was the cause of brain Alzheimer's, or whether the brain-robbing disease caused people to take up unhealthy habits leading to brain inflammation.

"One of the limitations of the 'infection hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease' is the debate of what comes first, the chicken (Alzheimer's) or the egg (infection)," scientists wrote.

"Is it because subjects have a compromised immune system that they develop an infection leading to neuroinflammation and Alzheimer's?

"Or does increasing inflammation due to ageing and sub-clinical Alzheimer's disease cause immune defects or unhealthy habits allowing the entry of olfactory pathogens?"

They're not the first to link nose-picking to dementia.

A Griffith University study carried out on mice found found a small link between the nasty habit and the build-up of proteins associated with the brain-robbing disease.

They ran tests on a bacteria called Chlamydia pneumoniae - a rare type of germ that can cause respiratory tract infections like pneumonia.

They found evidence that routing around your nose could damage the protective internal tissues, making it easier for dangerous bacteria to reach your brain.

There are currently 900,000 people living with dementia in the UK.

Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia makes up the majority of cases, together with vascular dementia.

It comes after scientists suggested Alzheimer's could be transmitted between people, after five people who received hormones harvested from the brains of dead donors developed the disease.