• Question: is it good to have green snot?

    Asked by lilygrainger27 to Jen, Mel, Phil, Stef on 20 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Jennifer Paxton

      Jennifer Paxton answered on 20 Mar 2013:

      Hmmmm…well snot that is very green or yellow may be a sign of an infection!

      The snot (or mucus) that you have in your nose and throat is usually clear and quite thin. When you get a cold or something then the fighter cells in your body will rush to the area. These fighter cells make an enzyme that the greeny coloured so that’s why your snot changes colour. It also becomes much thicker and gloopy! Yuck! Sometimes just thick mucus can become green just because there is so much of it.

      Ewww that’s put me right off my lunch 😉

    • Photo: Stefan Piatek

      Stefan Piatek answered on 21 Mar 2013:

      I guess the only good thing about it is that at least it’s good that your fighter cells (immune cells) are fighting the infection. Although having green snot does suggest that it’s quite a intense infection if there’s a lot of it, which isn’t so great!

    • Photo: Melissa Brereton

      Melissa Brereton answered on 21 Mar 2013:

      I actually asked my friends in the lab over lunch this question because I didn’t know the answer. Apparently snot is made up of metalloproteinases and white blood cells that cause it to be green as they release metallic ions!

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