BEIJING -- Picking one's nose is widely considered to be a bad habit and frowned upon. Not to mention eating snot!

But nose-picking is pretty common, particularly among children -- we either grow out of the habit by adulthood or do it privately.

However, a recent study shows that those little boogers can benefit human bodies in many ways.

The study was published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a government-funded national resource for molecular biology information in the United States.

A direct connection has been found between eating snot and better teeth because boogers are made of mucus, known as salivary mucin, which prevents bacteria from clasping onto your teeth together.

As a result, researchers who conducted the research are now looking into ways to create synthetic mucus that can be made into chewing gum or toothpaste.

Yummy! The fictional Bertie Bott's booger-flavored beans in the Harry Potter film series may soon become a reality.

Not only can eating your snot guarantee you better teeth, but it can also enable you to live a happier and healthier life.

"People who like to dig up there are better in tune with their bodies," said Austrian lung specialist Friedrich Bischinger, suggesting that society should get rid of the social stigma surrounding picking one's nose and encourage children to do so more often.

"Eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system. Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do," Bischinger said.

"In terms of the immune system, the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine," he said.