Eating of soil and raw starch documented in Madagascar
Friday, November 9, 2012 - 17:00
in Earth & Climate
A new study provides the first population-level data of pica in Madagascar -- the urge to eat dirt, raw starches, chalk, ash and other non-foods. Across the entire sample in the prior year, 53.4 percent engaged in geophagy, eating specific types of earth, including a fine white clay subsoil, fine sand and red river sediment; 85.2 percent ate such raw starches as raw cassava, raw sweet potato, uncooked rice and another local wild root; and 19 percent ate other items considered locally to be nonfood, including rock salt, used coffee grounds, charcoal, rice chaff, blackboard chalk and ash.