Binge eating disorder has only recently been described and as yet there are no controlled trials of drug treatment. As far as BN is concerned, a number of different classes of drugs have been studied including anticonvulsants, appetite suppressants, opiate antagonists, lithium and antidepressants. Habit of Dirt-Eating Is Studied As a nurse, Rena Bronson knows eating dirt can cause anemia, constipation and serious liver and kidney damage. But that doesn't seem to matter when her body starts yearning for those crumbly white chunks of clay. It's more important I get home to get my fix.
Dirt eating, or geophagy, goes back thousands of years.
The ancient Greeks ate clay to fight a variety of ailments. About 2,000 years later, the practice continues, especially among poor folks in rural middle Georgia - where most of the world's kaolin comes from. A Cal softball player awoke from a month-long coma caused by bulimia. Theresa Kilgariff, who was about to begin her junior year, suffered a heart attack, which caused the coma. According to her mother she has been cognizant and talking for a couple of weeks now.