Charlie Stayt can’t help but look grossed out by nose picking and snot eating chat on BBC Breakfast

Charlie Stayt couldn’t hold back his look of disgust over a conversation he clearly found too gross for comfort on BBC Breakfast this morning.

Charlie and co-presenter Rachel Burden were discussing a new study that’s found nose picking and snot eating could actually have some health benefits.

Researchers have, for the first time, recorded the aye-aye – a long-fingered lemur – inserting its extremely long finger its nostrils and then licking the goods clean.

‘Brace yourselves, look away now,’ Charlie warned, before discussing the ‘disgusting’ habit.

‘Scientists say picking your nose might have health benefits including stronger teeth,’ he explained.

‘There are so many questions to that story, that I don’t think we’ve properly addressed in that very brief run down,’ Rachel added.

Charlie didn’t look too impressed (Picture: BBC)

‘Brace yourselves,’ he warned (Picture: BBC)

Meanwhile, Charlie was looking a little queasy.

‘I get the feeling you don’t really want to go there Charlie,’ she told him, to which he replied: ‘No, no, no.’

‘I hadn’t seen those pictures before,’ he continued.

‘At the beginning, it looks like he or she is maybe scratching itself, but then it becomes more clear, doesn’t it.’

So far 12 other primate species, including humans, have been documented picking their nose and eating the mucus, as the scientists said their findings, published in the Journal of Zoology, could shed some light on the evolution and the possible functional role of nose picking across all these species.

Lead author Anne-Claire Fabre, a scientific associate at the Natural History Museum in London, said: ‘There is very little evidence about why we, and other animals, pick our nose.

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‘Nearly all the papers that you can find were written as jokes.’

She added: ‘One study shows that picking your nose can spread bacteria such as Staphylococcus, while another shows that people who eat their own snot have fewer dental cavities.’

BBC Breakfast airs weekdays from 6am on BBC One.

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Turns out snot eating might be good for us.