Paleo Foods: CLAY?!

Posted Sun, 04/11/2010 - 09:02 by Melissa

Apparently anthropologists have found that many women crave clay during pregnancy. In most of the Western medical literature it is considered pathological, but:

Worldwide, clays are used to relieve diarrhea..., detoxify compounds, and provide minerals that are insuficient in the diet. In Africa, this practice is also employed by women seeking to relieve nausea of pregnancy and it can serve to bind toxins that would harm that fetus in this stage. When geophagy continues beyond the early stages of pregnancy, it probably adds important nutrients to the diet, especially calcium, essential for fetal skeletal development and maintenance of blood pressure in pregnancy.

Anthropologists Andrea Wiley and Sol Katz propose that clay as a source of calcium helps to explain the distribution of geophagy in African populations. Their survey of 60 societies confirms that whee dairying is practiced and calcium is available in the diets of pregnant women, geophagy is less common...

Given evidence that clay consumption occurs in chimpanzees and may have been practiced by early hominins, it seems to have a long evolutionary history. Certainly most of the sources of calcium sought by pregnant women today (dairy products) were not available to our ancestors and clay consumption may have made the difference between a healthy and unhealthy pregnancy. As with all practices, however, geophagy may have negative consequences, including exposure to pathogens in soil, iron deficiency, and lead poisoning.

From Ancient Bodies, Modern Lives: How Evolution Has Shaped Women's Health.

Comments

I read about this in relation

by Bix - 04/13/2010 - 15:27

I read about this in relation to hunger. It was used in food-deprived populations to ease hunger pain. I remember reading about dirt cookies being eaten in Haiti recently ... I found the site:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080130-AP-haiti-eatin.html

I remember reading that and

by Melissa - 04/14/2010 - 10:27

I remember reading that and then thinking about it after the Earthquake. I wish we would allow more Haitians to immigrate here.

There is something to be said

by Karl - 04/13/2010 - 10:10

There is something to be said for the intuitive instincts of the human, especially a pregnant woman. Personally, I choose to listen to my body and quite often I crave certain foods (hamburger, milk, yogurt, fruit as examples). I believe this is my body telling me that I am lacking in specific nutrients (macro/micro).

As far as eating clay... I don't have cravings to grab a handful and certainly don't look forward to tossing clay on my plate as a side dish, but I wouldn't discount it if I was living/surviving in the wild.

Thanks for the post and your new site looks great!

I've heard there are parts of

by Paul - 04/11/2010 - 16:57

I've heard there are parts of Mississippi where people eat the dirt. In certain places you can harvest is just like a plant, and it has a "milky" taste; although I've never tried it.

I actually tried this out for

by Rick - 04/11/2010 - 09:31

I actually tried this out for a while, mixing some good ol' Oklahoma red clay with my water. Didn't feel the urge to stick with it, and some were likely wondering about that bowl full of dirt at my workstation. But if you come across any good clay recipes, I'm all ears.