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Geophagy (soil consumption) and iron supplementation in Uganda
Author(s) -
Abrahams Peter W.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
tropical medicine and international health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1365-3156
pISSN - 1360-2276
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1997.d01-348.x
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , iron status , environmental protection , soil water , developing country , natural resource economics , geography , environmental health , iron deficiency , medicine , biology , ecology , economics , social science , sociology , anemia
Despite the often limited awareness of geophagy, the deliberate consumption of soil by humans, it is common in certain areas of the world. This paper reports the mineralogical and geochemical composition of geophagical materials collected from Uganda, and indicates the potential of such soils in supplying iron to the geophagist. In countries like Uganda where modern pharmaceuticals are either unobtainable or prohibitively expensive, ingested soils may therefore be very important as a mineral supplement for the health of individuals providing they are consumed sensibly. Alongside this argument is the fact that individuals in such poor countries are frequently iron‐deficient.