• Corpus ID: 11597069

Prevalence of Geophagia and its possible implications to health – A study in rural South Africa

@inproceedings{GeorgePrevalenceOG,
  title={Prevalence of Geophagia and its possible implications to health – A study in rural South Africa},
  author={Grace George and E A Agbor Ndip}
}

• G. George, E. Ndip

Habitual and intentional consumption of soil (geophagy) by both humans and animals have been reported in literature as a complex eating behavior. A survey was conducted in one of the rural districts of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa to assess and document the prevalence of geophagic practices among its population. The results of the survey indicated the wide spread practice of geophagia among young girls, pregnant as well as non pregnant women. Reasons for the practice ranged from simple craving due to smell and texture, the soils ability to reduce the symptoms of morning sickness , hunger pangs and the belief that soils can provide some micronutrients important for health. Geophagic soils collected from consumers included soils from garden, mountains, river beds, termite mounts, mole hills and earth worm casts . Soil texture of samples varied from loamy sands to sandy clay and clay. Cation exchange capacities (CEC) of the geophagic siols collected in the area varied considerably and ranged from 3 – 89meq/100g. Relatively high CEC values obtained in some of the clay soils consumed in the region may have beneficial (protection from enterotoxins) or harmful (hypokalemic myopathy) health consequences to consumers. Hypokalemic myopathy has been reported for similar soils from other parts of South Africa. Key words-Prevalence; geophagia; cation exchange capacity; hypokalemia; enterotoxin