Often used in cosmetics, in glass industry, paper industry or even in medicinewhat are the health risks of l’ingestion du kaolin ? This friable clay, and especially the fact of eating it is not recent, even if propagated by TikTok, this practice is especially known in West Africa. According to ancestral beliefs, this clay would have medical and symbolic properties : Eating earth would give the energy of the Earth and help women to have children. On another level, kaolin would have healing properties, both digestive and cutaneous. But behind these beliefs or possible properties, the ingestion of kaolin can have effects on the digestive system and not only (source 1).
Taken in too large quantities, kaolin can lead to syndromes occlusifs ranging from constipation To intestinal obstructionwhich may lead to anemias quite deep. Indeed, the white clay, once swallowed, absorbs iron present in the organism, creating deficiencies, episodes of fatigue and a lack of red blood cells. Not knowing where this clay comes from, consumers, often young, expose themselves to a possible heavy metal poisoningsince the agile is extracted in the soils, which are often polluted lead, arsenic or aluminum. In addition, kaolin ingested in large quantities can cause an addiction in the consumer, without the specialists being able to explain it.
