2008) and high calcium and iron lev els were suspected to be part of the reason that Cassowaries engaged in
geophagy in New Guinea (Symes et al.
Iron nutrition and possible lead toxicity: An appraisal of
geophagy undertaken by pregnant women of UK Asian communities.
Krishnamani R and WC Mahaney
Geophagy among primates: adaptive significance and ecological consequences.
Several studies on vertebrate
geophagy have found seasonal variation in the use of mineral licks (Jones and Hanson, 1985; Atwood and Weeks, 2003).
Wenzel Geissler, "The Significance of Earth-Eating: Social and Cultural Aspects of
Geophagy Among Luo Children," Africa 70 (2000): 668-69.
Browman DL, Gundersen JN (1993) Altiplano coinestible earths: pre-historic and historic
geophagy of highland Peru and Bolivia.
They include maggots, leeches (a type of segmented worm), and even
geophagy or dirt-eating (see sidebar, p.
Earth eating, or
geophagy, in one form or another, has been widespread since the dawn of humanity because most minerals essential for our lives--calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, selenium, cobalt, sodium, and others-derive from the earth.
But she says evidence from an X-ray crystallography study and documentation of human soil eating--a practice known as
geophagy -- indicates that, in addition to its nutritional benefits, the primate penchant for soil may have a more medicinal function.
This apparent paradox is because the iron being consumed is predominantly in the nonhaem form, which is poorly absorbed, and some of this non-haem iron is from contamination of food with iron from soil, dust, and water; iron leaching into food during storage and cooking; contamination during food processing, such as milling; and the practice of
geophagy (14,36).
Browman DL, Gundersen JN (1993) Altiplano comestible earths: pre-historic and historic
geophagy of highland Peru and Bolivia.
scientists consider animal
geophagy "normal," probably because
