The practice of eating clay, charcoal or soil is common, particularly amongst pregnant women and babies, in this region. I was interested to recently learn how damaging this is for health, particularly for a pregnant woman. Intestinal helminths transmitted through the soil can cause or worsen anemia. In developing countries anemia has an extreme impact on maternal mortality and morbidity, with some studies estimating that 20% of maternal deaths in Africa are attributable to anemia or its related illnesses – it is associated with increased risk of hypotension, tachycardia, preterm birth, and delayed social and emotional development in the child.
Here are some articles about this issue which I found interesting:
http://tps.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/26/3/167
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0035920398909105
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118667618/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/996482-overview
Jess
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