Study: Kissing Boosts Women's Immunity

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Ladies, kissing may be good for your health.

The Telegraph reports that kissing may have developed as a way for a woman to build immunity from a virus called cytomegalovirus, which is present in saliva. The virus can cause blindness and other defects in newborn babies if the mother contracts it during her pregnancy.

According to Dr. Colin Hendrie of the University of Leeds, who published a report in the journal Medical Hypotheses, kissing is a way for the man to pass the virus on to the woman to give her time to build an immunity to it before she gets pregnant and gives birth. Hendrie said kissing the same partner for six months offers the best protection.

"Female inoculation with a specific male's cytomegalovirus is most efficiently achieved through mouth-to-mouth contact and saliva exchange, particularly where the flow of saliva is from the male to the typically shorter female," Hendrie said.

Many theories have emerged as to why humans kiss in the first place. A widely accepted theory is that kissing was developed as a way for people to sniff out good mates. LiveScience writes that when our faces are together, our pheremones exchange biological information about whether two people will make strong, healthy offspring.