You May Not Want To Blow Out The Candles On Your Birthday Cake

If you have a birthday coming up, you may want to reconsider taking part in one of the biggest traditions for your special day – don’t worry, you can still get presents.

According to a new study, blowing out the candles on a birthday cake can actually increase the amount of bacteria on the cake by 1,500% to as much as 14,000%. That is insanely gross. It also might explain the aftermath of the one year I had a birthday party in a bathroom, but I digress.

This is all according to the scientist Paul Dawson, who apparently likes to ruin everything. So why do cakes suddenly contract all that gross bacteria after you blow out the candles? I hate to break it to you, but this is actually the fault of the person celebrating their special day.  That’s right – you may not see it, but all that bacteria is coming out of the person’s mouth while they’re blowing out the candles. And then when you add another person who spontaneously starts blowing on the candles, too? Yuck.

The good news? This doesn’t seem to be a major health risk, so you’re probably safe still eating that cake. I guess they just wanted you to not enjoy it as much? Geez. Thanks for that horrible knowledge! I should probably apologize to you for passing on this info. My bad. Enjoy your birthday!

Source: The Atlantic