Q: Is licking a wound beneficial?A: Apparently...

Q: Is licking a wound beneficial?

A: Apparently so, according to Dr. Nigel Benjamin and his colleagues at the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Saliva contains the antimicrobial substances thiocyanate and lysozyme. And, Benjamin reported recently in The Lancet, salivary glands also concentrate nitrite, which can be converted into nitric oxide, another powerful antimicrobial.

Benjamin’s team measured the concentration of nitric oxide on the hands of 14 volunteers before and after the volunteers licked them. They found that the amount of nitric oxide increased sharply after the licking, indicating that wound-licking probably is quite helpful.