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this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
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Thanks for citing this, but it still doesn't explain why this custom has developed.
I can't speak for these specific people, but I know that eating clay can absorb toxins, like the kinds of poisons plants make to stop you eating them. There's also potentially mineral supplementation and introduction of beneficial bacteria.
But it's not very safe to eat dirt in modern times because we've poisoned a lot of the soil with various substances. You can buy edible dirt which is known to be safe.
Wait, what?
The most likely explanation is that kaolinite clay is known to reduce nausea and diarrhea.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.893831/full
I compost and a common practice is to throw a handful of your native soil into your pile when you start it, to inoculate it with local soil bacteria. Bacteria do most of the work in an active compost pile.
I wonder if people were getting some kind of gut flora benefit from this.
I wonder this exact thing, given that soil is a living organism full of beneficial bacteria and other organic materials. The food we eat consumes it, takes what it needs, and then we do the same.
I find it also interesting that while the article claims this is a cultural thing vs. being done for heath benefits, I’d argue it became cultural because of a universal understanding of health benefits.
Now I’m not saying this is some long lost concept that is the missing key to fix all our ills, however I can see how consuming soil was an integral part of maintaining gut health and boosting immunity way before we understood how those systems work.
Yeah I don’t see an answer, but it is possible that it is chemical and not about flora, because I keep seeing “clay” mentioned specifically, instead of “soil.”
I agree that just saying “it’s cultural” is not an explanation. Cultures are not entirely arbitrary.
Depending on the composition of the soil it might also have antiparasitic properties.
Or they could be beneficial parasites, like that episode of the space show.
What rational reason is there for people to eat cereal for breakfast?
Cereal was designed to prevent masturbation.
I'd say it does a pretty good job. I hardly ever jack off while eating Cheerios in the morning.
That's why I rub out a fat one first and THEN eat the cereal.
That'll show kellogg
Then why are they called Apple Jacks?!
Cream of Wheat, not cream of meat.
There's always a reason, but it doesn't need to be entirely rational. Kellogg was a nut, but that's a different topic, no?
Yeah pour it in the trousers!
That's true for a lot of customs.
Pretty much all customs are culturally transmitted - that’s kind of the definition. But they’re not necessarily totally arbitrary either - there is often some other information that can be added beyond “they have learned to do it.”
Oh I agree.