Double Dipping

It's time for the Super Bowl, and you know what that means - you'll be going to a Super Bowl party. The folks over at ScienceBlogs are making a big deal about double dipping - you know, the socially scorned practice of going back into the spinach dip or salsa with a chip that you had already munched. Dr. Free-Ride, Greg Laden, OmniBrain and Tara Smith all have chimed in. Evidently there's a lot of bacteria that gets transferred in the mouth to chip to dip to chip to mouth pathway. 10,000 bacteria. That sounds like a lot. Or is it?

1) How many of those bacteria cause disease?
2) How many of them do you not have in your mouth already?
3) What's the equivalent transfer from multiple hands going into the same snack bag?

Frankly, I'd rather get someone else's mouth bacteria than their hand bacteria. Because you know what hand bacteria is the same as? That's right, folks: butt bacteria. And butt bacteria can cause real problems.

And there's one more thing. If you really want to stay healthy during the Super Bowl, don't bother with safe dipping. In this case, I advocate dip abstinence. What's in those dips? Mayo, cheese, sour cream, butter; this equals fat, fat, fat, salt salt salt. And that's before we consider the chip... Now I don't have any evidence behind this, but my hunch is that this stuff will kill you faster than the bacteria you'll pick up this afternoon.

Just say no to dips and chips. You'll avoid anxiety over bugs, and your waist will thank you.