Shoeys have really taken off in recent years (why, we do not know) and given its proliferation, scientists at Western Sydney University's (WSU) School of Medicine Gastroenterology Laboratory did a heap of tests and found that yep, you definitely don't want to be pouring yourself a drink from your mate's Vans.
As ABC reports, the scientists immersed (worn, probably sweaty, definitely smelly) shoes in various alcohols for 60 seconds and found that "you could actually isolate an organism such as Staph even after it's been immersed in alcohol for a good one minute".
Staph is known to cause septicaemia, vomiting, diarrhoea and more. It's definitely not something you want to be putting in your mouth.
We're looking at you, Dune Rats, Stormzy and Post Malone.
In somewhat good news, they found most alcohols actually destroy most of the bacteria present in the shoes - except if the alcohol you're dousing it in is champagne or sparkling white wine. Champagne and sparkling white wine actually encouraged the growth of bacteria in the shoe.
Maybe stick to champagne flutes if you're drinking bubbly, folks.
Beer and vodka were fairly active in "disinfecting" the shoe, though, so if you're really set in drinking out of your shoe... stick to those.
(We still don't recommend it though. Nasty!)
Check out the full study here.
