Geophagia

[[File:Geophagy.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Friars at Pevas, Peru displaying a 5-year old girl with chronic geophagia in the 1860s]]
{{foodnav}}{{hatnote|Not to be confused with [[colonic]].}}
The [[Appeal to tradition|ancient]] practice known as '''geophagia''' or '''geophagy''' (the practice of eating dirt or clay) has popped up numerous times in history and [[Appeal to ancient wisdom|has of course]] been incorporated into diet [[woo]].

Sketchy "health" stores tend to sell jars of clay, and the cable channel "[[Animal Planet]]" was happy to advertise for them when their oddity show was talking about [[Appeal to nature|macaws.]]<ref>The Most Extreme &mdash; Ep 23 &mdash; Eaters. The… narrator… was… most… enthused…</ref> Macaws, unlike humans, actually have a digestive system designed for eating clay.

One of the more recent incarnations of geophagia, the '''Clay Cleanse Diet''' (CCD) is an [[alternative medicine]] [[fad diet]] that claims that ingesting clay can reduce weight and remove toxins and surfaced around 2014 as a potential weight loss method.

All of this is a terrible idea and you shouldn't do it.

That being said, there is a nugget of truth in geophagia as a detoxification method. It has been demonstrated that geophagia in association with potato eating, particularly the more toxic wild potatoes in times of famine, has a detoxification effect.<ref name=johns1>"A chemical-ecological model of root and tuber domestication in the Andes" by Timothy Johns. In: ''Foraging and Farming: The Evolution of Plant Exploitation'', edited by David R. Harris & Gordon C. Hillman (2016) Routledge. ISBN 1138816019.</ref><ref>[https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/44872/10886_2005_Article_BF01012098.pdf?sequence=1 Detoxification function of geophagy and domestication of the potato] by Timothy Johns (1986). Journal of Chemical Ecology, vol. 12, no. 3., pp. 635-646.</ref> Detoxification has also been suggested as an adaptive function in non-human primates but as not been shown experimentally.<ref name=johns1/> Geophagia is further linked to to plant domestication, at least in the case of potatoes.<ref name=johns1/>

==Effectiveness==
===Weight loss===
CCD itself is probably effective at weight loss. The clay ''does'' expand in the stomach, and will make people feel significantly 
more constipated
 less hungry. Users of the diet claim to have lost 10 pounds over 10 days.<ref name=DailyHeil>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2707663/The-women-drinking-CLAY-lose-weight-It-s-used-cat-litter-contain-arsenic-lead-heart-attacks-Is-riskiest-dieting-craze-ever.html Cue hilarious SCARY Daily Mail headline]. (Sorry about linking to the [[Daily Mail|Daily Heil]], but this is their specialty and no serious scientists seem to have wasted their time on this bit of [[woo]] so far.)</ref> If you wish to lose weight with a quick time scale but comparable health risks, you might consider removing unnecessary limbs or deliberately losing blood.

===Cleansing===
{{main|Detox}}
As a cleanser clay removes 
absolutely nothing
 "toxins" from the body by [[Hand wave|doing]] [[bullshit|stuff]]. The users of this diet fail to present any scientific evidence that it removes "toxins" from the body, or what those toxins are, as is typical for "cleansing" claims. Kaolinite and montmorillonite clays have been shown to adsorb heavy metals ''in vitro'', not in humans specifically.<ref>[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001868608000043 Adsorption of a few heavy metals on natural and modified kaolinite and montmorillonite: A review] by Krishna Gopal Bhattacharyyaa & Susmita Sen Guptab (Volume 140, Issue 2, 5 August 2008, Pages 114–131). ''Advances in Colloid and Interface Science'' doi:10.1016/j.cis.2007.12.008</ref>

==Safety==
CCD itself is not safe and should be avoided. It can potentially contain high levels of [[Irony|heavy metals]], soil-based pathogens (nematodes and microbes), can block your colon, and can damage your stomach and intestines.<ref name=DailyHeil/><ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20889178 Geophagy and potential health implications: geohelminths, microbes and heavy metals] by R. Kutalek et al. ''Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg.'' 2010 Dec;104(12):787-95. doi: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2010.09.002.</ref> Geophagia has been associated with hyperkalemia (excessive potassium in the blood), resulting in cardiac arrest and paralysis in five patients with chronic renal failure.<ref>[http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=342032 Geophagia: A Cause of Life-Threatening Hyperkalemia in Patients With Chronic Renal Failure] by Michael C. Gelfand et al. ''JAMA''. 1975;234(7):738-740. doi:10.1001/jama.1975.03260200054019.</ref>

==Other Geophagia==
[[File:GeophagicRocks.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Clay for sale in Zambia, intended for human consumption]]
Sandersville, [[Georgia]] is the "Kaolin Capital of the World",<ref>[http://www.sandersville.net/KaolinCapitaloftheWorld.cfm City of Sandersville, Georgia: Kaolin Capital of the World]</ref> and likely also the epicenter of geophagia in the United States.<ref>[http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/04/02/297881388/the-old-and-mysterious-practice-of-eating-dirt-revealed The Old And Mysterious Practice Of Eating Dirt, Revealed] by Linda Chen (April 02, 201412:46 PM ET) ''National Public Radio''.</ref>

===Pica===
{{Wpl|Pica_(disorder)|Pica}} is a condition characterized by an urge to eat soil (among other non-nutritive things, such as sand and utensils) due to chemical imbalance, neurological response to iron deficiency, etc.  It is particularly common among small children, pregnant women, and those with developmental disabilities.

===Basic sustenance in poverty===
Poor (dirt-poor?) [[Haiti]]ans sometimes eat a yellow dirt with added salt and vegetable shortening because they cannot afford rice.<ref>[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080130-AP-haiti-eatin.html Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt]</ref><ref>[https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Haitians+eating+dirt If You Can't Afford Rice In Haiti, You Eat Dirt]</ref> This way starving to death is less of a painful experience, and takes a long enough time that someone might notice their plight.

===Other animals===
Many animals eat dirt, primarily to get missing nutrients (especially [[salt]]). Confined farm animals are especially prone to geophagia, and [[goat]]s are reported to suffer from gastro-intestinal lesions from geophagia.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-wNeExtnL6cC&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=Geophagia+goat&source=bl&ots=_5ZjH07uGg&sig=YlrOwWER4sWjmFPyPfopwuZ7a_c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yj5BVdmgCJXYoATT1YHoDg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Geophagia%20goat&f=false ''Small ruminant research and development in Africa: Proceedings of the Second Biennial Conference of the African Small Ruminant Research Network. AICC, Arusha, Tanzania, 7-11 December 1992''] (1994) p. 140. ISBN 929053284X.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Colonic]], a similarly horrible weight-loss practice
*[[Food woo]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}

{{foodbox}}

[[Category:Alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Diet woo]]

Categories: Alternative medicine, Diet woo