Eating Dirt Can be Healthy
Most people will probably raise their brows a little higher at the title of this article and ask themselves, “Is this guy really going to tell me that eating dirt is good for you?”
Yes, eating dirt can be good for you. However, allow me to point out that it’s not just about eating any type of dirt. But a very special type of earth is called clay.
I’m not just talking about any clay either. When most people think of clay, they think of the kind of clay that their children play with. Or the type of clay that is used to create pottery. But edible clay is not the same as pottery clay. Especially the type of pottery clay that Patrick Swayze molded into his hands as he lovingly held his co-star, Demi Moore, in his arms while romantically shaping a vase in that unforgettable scene from the hit film, Ghost.
Yes, that was a great movie moment that involved clay. But they didn’t eat the clay and I am referring to specific types of edible clay which can be eaten. In this case, I’m talking about Montmorillonite clay. It’s the name for a type of earth which was first discovered in a town called Montmorillon located in France.
To Understand the Future, we Got to Go Back in Time
Those are the words made famous by Pitbull, a 21st-century music icon. If we go back through our history books, we’ll see that the ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates, who is traditionally regarded as the father of modern medicine, reportedly was the first to write about geophagy (eating earth). Galen, a great second-century CE Greek physician, later introduced eating Armenian earth into medical practice to cure all sorts of ills, including acne and hemorrhoids. (Excerpt from Healing with Clay by Ran Knishinsky).
In the Chinese pharmacopeia, Ch’en Nan, born in the 1200s, was known for his successful healing treatments with clay and credited with curing diseases thought untreatable in his time. The utilization of this medicine earned him the infamous nickname Mud-pill Ch’en. In India, Mahatma Gandhi recommended earth to overcome constipation (Excerpt from Healing with Clay by Ran Knishinsky).
Clay is Medicine
Fast forward in time to the current day. A number of companies manufacture medicines with clay that are sold as over-the-counter and prescription antidiarrheal medicines. These include Diarrest, Di-gon II, Diatrol, Donnagel, Kaopek, K-Pek, Parepectolin, and Smecta. While many of these medicines are not available for sale in the United States, they are found on most major continents (Excerpt from Healing with Clay by Ran Knishinsky).
How on Earth Does it Work?
Clay holds an electrical charge. Negatively charged molecules in the clay bind with positively charged toxins and pathogens in the body. This entire process of swapping electrical charges is called a cationic exchange.
Some of the toxins adhere to the edges of the clay surface, which is referred to as adsorption while some of the toxins are drawn into the clay mineral sphere called absorption. All of this happens directly in the gastrointestinal tract. The clay minerals then exit the body in fecal matter, removing the toxic elements and thus protecting the body from absorbing those toxins through the mucosal layer of the gut.
Understanding this mechanism of action helps to explain why some indigenous peoples prepare bitter foods containing toxins with clay. So that they may eat the foods without ingesting the toxins.
Even Animals Like to Eat Clay
Yes, animals love eating clay for a couple of reasons. First, its use as a nutritional aid; in other words, as a means of fulfilling their mineral requirements. Second, its use as a natural detoxification agent.
Hundreds of animals around the world consume the earth on a daily basis. This includes clay straight from the ground, earth from termite mounds or anthills, or even salt licks in the wild. For example, African buffalos and mountain gorillas eat clay as a source of iron for red blood cell development. Bats and elephants eat sodium-rich clay when they have a sodium deficit in their bodies.
In the 1990s James Gilardi, executive director of the World Parrot Trust, found support for the detoxification hypothesis in one of the few experimental studies on geophagia. Today, clay is used in animal feed quite extensively and is a key ingredient in many foods, which your dog or cat will consume.
Read More About Eating Earth
To read more about this subject, check out this article published in Scientific American titled “Would you like a side of dirt with that? New findings suggest that ingesting soil is adaptive, not necessarily pathological. This article is a good introduction to understanding why people eat clay.
Another One Bites the Dust
Feel like trying a little dust for yourself? Then check out Detox Dirt which contains a 100% independently tested, clinically trialed montmorillonite clay. The company founder, Ran Knishinsky, has been eating dirt for over 30 years and it’s all detailed in his second edition new book called Healing with Clay: A Practical Guide to Earth’s Oldest Natural Remedy.
About the Author: Ran Knishinsky eats clay on a daily basis. When he's not eating dirt, he is the author of 4 books published in 5 languages. Ran is the founder of Detox Dirt, an edible montmorillonite clay. Ran has been over 15 years in both the naturopathic and allopathic medicine industries. He first owned a Homeopathic Dispensary and Health Food Store. Later he worked in the Hospital, Med Device, and Pharmaceutical sectors as a Management Consultant and Marketing Executive where he led large-scale commercial efforts for high-profile drugs at publicly traded companies. Ran holds a Master of Business Administration from the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Learn more about what Ran is eating at DetoxDirt.com!