Study Shows: Men With Beards Carry More Germs Than Dogs

photo credit: Pexels / Craig McKay, Twitter / Naadira Kathrad

Beards are definitely in style this year. Many men have them and it’s like the 1920’s facial fashion came back around again to dominate the worldwide culture. However, a recent study shared by the Daily Mail shows that apparently, the average dog has fewer germs, bacteria and even bugs than most men with beards.

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Scientific Study

The scientist wanted to test to see if it was a possible risk that humans would catch a dog-borne disease from an MRI scanner that vets used to examine dogs. The study was conducted by a scientist who tested 18 men and 30 dogs. Swabbing the beards of each man and the fur coats of each dog.

After running the test Professor Andreas Gutzeit, of the Switzerland Hirslanden Clinic said:

“The researchers found a significantly higher bacterial load in specimens taken from the mens beards compared with the dogs fur”

The study went on to reveal that bearded men from age 18-23 had a high level of a microbial count, and out of the 30 dogs tested only 23 had high count levels. The remaining 7 dogs showed only to have moderate levels. However, the study showed that 7 of the men were carrying microbes that were dangerous to their health.

“On the basis of these findings, dogs can be considered as clean compared with bearded men” said Dr Gutzeit.

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Opposing views of Report

Even with the study done by a high level scientist, there’s one man, Keith Flett, founder of the Beard Liberation Front, who doesn’t fully agree with the study, casting doubt on the scientific report.

“I think it’s possible to find all sorts of unpleasant things if you took swabs from people’s hair and hands and the tested them. I don’t believe that beards in themselves are unhygienic”

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Regardless of the study, and the opposing views of the bearded societies, it doesn’t look like the science community is gonna stop men all over the world from growing their beards.