myths
“Telling children that eating snow will
give them worms in their stomach is just as true
as the Easter Bunny,” chuckles Professor of
Medical Biology Ørjan Olsvik at UiT.
He specialises in micro-organisms of all
kinds, bacteria and worse, and he can reassure
us that the scare propaganda we were exposed
to when we were small and that we tell our
childwren today is based on a lie.
Algal toxins in snow
In fact, the professor is of the opinion that it is
safe to eat both ice and snow, as long as you can
see that it is not dirty – or yellow.
“In the old days, they probably started scar-
ing children from eating snow to keep them
from eating animal urine and faeces. Urine is
not really dangerous, but I do not recommend
it,” says Olsvik, adding that there is actually
some snow that you should stay away from.
“You should be careful not to eat snow or
drink water from glaciers that have a reddish
tinge. That means the glacier contains algae.
You won’t get worms from the algae, but you
will get a stomach ache. They produce a kind
of toxin.”
Pollution in the snow
No, toxins in your tummy does not sound good,
and it is natural to want to find out whether
snow may be toxic in some other way. In fact,
Professor Olsvik worked on exactly this prob-
lem back when cars still ran on leaded gasoline.
Olsvik took snow samples and analysed the
lead content in the snow lying around various
kindergartens in Oslo. He also took blood sam-
ples of kindergarten children to see if they had
ingested lead.
“These were kindergartens in dense urban
areas, but we found no elevated lead content in
the children – who most certainly ate snow,”
reassures Olsvik.
Out skiing and eating snow
Ørjan Olsvik enjoys a bit of snow himself when
he is out skiing, and he is of the opinion that
anyone can do it.
“What you should know is that your body
needs to use a lot of energy to melt snow into
water, so you can get chilled if you eat a lot.”
The professor does have one trick in his
pocket, literally. When he is out skiing and
need fluids, he brings along a thermos full of
hot water in his inner jacket pocket. And since
he is not afraid of eating snow, he simply fills the
cup with snow and a little hot water, and, lo and
behold, he has a full cup to quench his thirst.
“Smart, because you don’t always have
access to firewood, and you need to eat a lot of
snow to get a half litre of water.”
The worms are in your home
So, you don’t need to be afraid to get worms in
your stomach outside in winter. If you are going
to get worms, then you will most likely get them
in indoors. The most common worm we have
here in Norway is the threadworm, because it is
transmitted so easily.
It is simply ingenious. At night, it creeps out
of the rectum and lays eggs. This really itches,
so the person who has threadworms scratches
himself. They get the eggs on their hand and
under their nails. The eggs are then transferred
to the mouth, doorknobs, bed linens and tow-
els. Then it gets inside us, and the parasite has
managed to multiply.
“Threadworms cause an intense itching sen-
sation, and when a family is affected, everyone
should be treated. Bed linens and towels need to
be changed,” says parasitologist Tore Lier at the
University Hospital of North Norway.
Not even rubbing alcohol can kill the eggs of
the threadworm, but fortunately there is a cure
available at the pharmacy.
The conclusion is thus that you can safely
put snow in your mouth, but not dirty fingers.
Can you get worms
in your stomach by
eating snow?
Text: Elisabeth Øvreberg
7
labyrint
•
research magazine
from
u
i
t
the
arctic
university
of
norway
