SOUTH AFRICA: JOHANNESBURG MARKET TRADERS ARE SELLING CLAY MUD - TO EAT

Record ID: 753852

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: JOHANNESBURG MARKET TRADERS ARE SELLING CLAY MUD - TO EAT
  • Date: 8th September 2004
  • Summary: (L!3) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (SEPTEMBER 8, 2004) (REUTERS) WIDE OF VARIOUS HAWKERS SELLING FOOD IN CITY CENTRE VENDOR FRYING MEAT IN AN OPEN AIR PAN WOMAN PACKING DRIED CLAY MUD IN HER STALL WIDE OF CLAY MUD AND PEOPLE WALKING PAST TRACKING SHOT OF CLAY MUD TO WOMAN UNPACKING CLAY MUD INTO A SMALL CONTAINER MORE CLAY MUD WITH PEOPLE WALKING PAST VARIOUS OF WOMAN
  • Embargoed: 23rd September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: General,Health,Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA2LSXETUF1MTUIQUV6JT7AZ997
  • Story Text: South African women are eating dirt - and loving it ! The hottest fast-food seller on the streets of Johannesburg these days is chunks of clay.
    These are sold, alongside fruit, sweets and cool drinks, for 50c a "stone" or R1 for a packet. The craving for clay is found particularly among pregnant and lactating women, but eating clay is a widespread practice in South Africa and neighbouring countries. It is also popular in parts of the United States and Europe.
    But the appetite for clay can sometimes reach the level of an addiction. A seller in the Johannesburg city centre, who wanted to be known only as Thandi for fear of police harassment, said her customers tell her they go crazy without the stuff.
    Another hawker, who also did not want to be named, said her customers got depressed or angry if she ran out of stock.Fortunately that rarely happens, as bags of clay are delivered every week to the market.
    Vendor Martha Maluleka (52), who now earns her living and supports her six children from the clay mud income, said she became addicted to clay in 1992 after seeing a friend eat it. The urge became worse when she was pregnant with her first child.
    "I just couldn't stop eating it. I would sometimes burn the rock till it was crisp and eat it like peanuts," said Maluleka. But really, how does it taste ? What drive so many women to eat dirt ? " Clay mud is tasteless, it's neither sweet, salty, nor fatty. But it's so irrisistable, the urge is just uncontrollable.", Maluleka contends. Although she has since kicked the habit, she continues to sell clay stones. It is a lucrative business - she sells nothing else.
    While Europeans favour clay for its detoxification properties, in Africa it is famed for its gastrointestinal benefits. In times of famine, it makes the stomach feel full and relieves hunger pangs.
    It's said to provide iron and other elements which pregnant women need. It is also said to prevent morning sickness.
    People believe it cleans out the intestinal tract, rids the body of parasites and prevents infection.
    It is said to help skin conditions like acne or eczema because of its ability to absorb toxins.
    A Wits University geology professor, Terence McCarthy, confirms that some clay has a medicinal use, particularly Kaolinite which is used to stop diarrhoea.McCarthy said all the minerals found in a clay mud sample sent for analysis were non-hazardous or benign.
    And toxic elements like lead were found in amounts too minute to be dangerous.
    Although eating clay is not particularly harmful, some medical doctors claim over-consumption can lead to constipation, vomiting and nausea.
    Professor Terence McCarthy contends that it is possible to ingest eggs of parasitic worms by eating soil, and too much clay can block the intestines which could require surgery. Another danger is contamination of the clay by pollutants harmful to humans, although Professor McCarthy says the chances of this happening are minimal.
    The consumption of soil is called geophagy. Scholars say just about every population in the world has done it at some time in their history. However, an abnormal appetite for non-food items, including soil, is considered to be Pica, an eating disorder. It can lead to serious health problems.
    Scientists say most of minerals found in clay mud are common and used in industry, for example as road materials or to make paper, glass, ceramics and paints.
    The major component, Kaolinite, is used in diarrhoea medicines.
    Smectite has the ability to absorb water and toxins, and has both industrial and dietary uses. Plagioclase, used in the ceramics industry, contains sodium and calcium.
    Major elements in the sample included silicon oxide and aluminium oxide and there were trace amounts of lead, zinc and other metals.
    Inasmuch as neither price increases nor the banning of smoking in public places has reduced the urge to smokers, mud eaters contend that no amount of threats from scientists will deter them from munching their delicacy.
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