You Asked: What Is Belly Button Lint?

Poor Georg Steinhauser. A professor of ecology and radiation studies at Leibniz University in Germany, Steinhauser would love to talk about the important environmental research his team is conducting. But back in 2009, he published a study on the nature of “navel fluff,” which is the technical term for belly button lint. He’s been hounded by curious patients and journalists ever since. “It was a fun study, and I enjoyed the public attention for a while,” he says. But now he’s over it and ready to move on. Steinhauser’s study captured the public’s attention because it tapped into a very human curiosity. Turns out, navel lint is exactly what you think it is: a collection of stray clothing fibers. Just as your dryer collects rubbed-off threads and fibers in its lint trap, your belly button can trap small particles that slough off of the clothing you wear. “New clothes especially have some extra or loose fibers, and so you may notice extra navel fluff if you’ve been wearing a new shirt,” says Dr. Rob Danoff, a physician and director of the family medicine practice at Aria-Jefferson Health in Philadelphia. This also explains why your navel lint may change colors. “I’ve had a patient come in worried because his belly button lint had turned blue, and I told him it was probably from his blue jeans,” he says. Danoff treats a lot of kids, who ask about belly button lint more than adults do. He’s ...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized belly button belly button lint belly button pain how does lint get in your belly button Research what causes belly button lint what is belly button lint where does belly button lint come from Source Type: news