After a very successful morning at mass with 2 preschoolers, my husband and I treated the girls to some doughnuts on the way home. You have to reward that good behavior, right? My 4-year-old of course chose the vanilla frosted doughnut with sprinkles. She licked off all the frosting and sprinkles then declared, “I’m done.” She does this with cakes and cupcakes, too. All frosting. So, I picked up the doughnut and took a bite. My husband nearly gagged and turned away in absolute disgust.
“What?”, I said. “This is a perfectly delicious Dunkin’ Doughnut. I’m not going to throw it away.” He replied, “But it’s saliva.”
Saliva? Please. When you are a mom, a little saliva is nothing compared to the other exciting things that come our way. We have been pooped on, thrown up on, and our precious toddlers come to us and say, “Here Mommy!” and hand us their boogers. I figure that since my daughters and I once shared the same blood, a little saliva on a doughnut is nothing to worry about.
So I decided to find out what exactly is saliva, and, as long as my children are not sick, whether I can indulge in that delicious doughnut after the frosting has been licked off.
What is Saliva?
Saliva is a liquid excreted from 3 different pairs of salivary glands in our mouths. These glands are called the parotid, the submandibular and the sublingual glands. Here is a diagram:
Over the course of one day, the salivary glands excrete between 1 and 2 liters of saliva each day. About 98% of saliva is water, but the remaining 2% contains critical components that help us taste, digest, and protect us from bacteria.
How does saliva help me to taste, for example, a fresh doughnut? In order for our taste buds to detect flavor, the chemicals in foods must first be dissolved by saliva. You will not be able to taste much with a dry mouth (try the experiment below).
Saliva contains several enzymes, such as amylase, which start the digestive process by breaking down the foods we eat. Other enzymes are antibacterial, such as lysozyme. They help to prevent infection and keep our mouths clean.
If you are one of those mothers who endured morning sickness (or 24-7 sickness in my case), there is a reason our mouths salivate right before that dreaded moment. The saliva helps to protect our mouth from the acids coming up from our stomach.
So, after doing some research, I could not find one good reason to throw out the doughnut my daughter had licked. Again, if my daughter had been sick, I would have tossed it. Plenty of illnesses are transferred through saliva. But now I know that saliva is mostly water, and the other components speed up digestion. As far as I’m concerned, my daughter helped me eat the doughnut.
In the future I may pass on other foods that have been licked. But doughnuts? Those are mighty tasty.
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