Why do some people eat soil?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 July 2019
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For some people, the idea of eating soil is weird at best and at worst disgusting and dirty. But globally the practice of geophagy – or the regular and intentional consumption of earth – is more common than you might imagine. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates described it 2500 years ago and even today, eating soil, earth and clay can be seen in a wide range of human cultures as well in hundreds of animal species. But what’s the point of it? And what’s going on in the body to drive cravings for things that aren’t bona fide food?
That’s the question bothering CrowdScience listener Amy. Anna Lacey discovers the special properties of the soil people eat and the purpose geophagy might serve for our health. She also finds out the extent to which our bodies can tell us what we’re lacking and drive us to crave the substances we need to reset the balance. Produced and Presented by Anna Lacey
(Photo: Hands holding some soil. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.0 | My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career. |
| 0:12.0 | That's the thing I love about podcasts. |
| 0:14.4 | You start with just a good idea, but then you have the space to see where it goes. |
| 0:18.4 | And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories |
| 0:21.9 | while developing the most unique audio talent. |
| 0:24.8 | So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of podcast we've got on BBC sounds? |
| 0:31.0 | My cravings started when I was about four or five months pregnant and it stayed with me ever since. |
| 0:39.0 | You're listening to crowd science from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:42.0 | I'm Anna Lacey and that's Isabella. She had pregnancy cravings which is |
| 0:46.9 | perfectly normal but the things she wanted to eat not so much. At first it was |
| 0:52.3 | desire to smell the smell. And then I don't really remember how it all happened. But then I don't really remember how it all happened but then one day I just I just wanted to lie on the ground and you know eat the soil. Yep that's right, |
| 1:10.0 | soil. It might sound like a rare and strange habit, but it's common enough to have an official name, |
| 1:15.6 | Geophagy or Earth-eating. It was first mentioned by Hippocrates 2,500 years ago, |
| 1:22.2 | but it's still alive and well today and Isabella's just one of many people around the world who've contacted us here at crowd science about this experience |
| 1:30.0 | Hi, my name is Chilma. I'm from Lagos Nigeria and I have a craving for clay. |
| 1:36.4 | So tell me about this clay. It's called in ZU in Nigeria, so NZU. Generally it looks like it's more pebble and then when you break it with |
| 1:46.6 | your teeth you kind of just crunch on it so it's very crunchy and the smell I think is one of the |
| 1:52.4 | thing that you know makes you want to eat it. |
| 1:54.4 | Okay, I'm trying to imagine this. |
| 1:57.8 | What is it specifically about it you like? |
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