Geophagy among pregnant and lactating women in Bondo District, western Kenya.
Geophagy was studied among 827 pregnant women in western Kenya, during and after pregnancy. The women were recruited at a gestational age of 14-24 weeks and followed-up to 6 months post-partum. The median age (range) of the women was 23 years and median parity 2. At recruitment, 378 were eating earth, of which most (65%) reported earth-eating before pregnancy. The preferred type of earth eaten was soft stone, known locally as odowa (54.2%) and earth from termite mounds (42.8%). The prevalence remained high during pregnancy, and then declined to 34.5% and 29.6% at 3 and 6 months post-partum respectively (P < 0.001). The mean daily earth intake was 44.5 g during pregnancy, which declined to 25.5 g during lactation (P < 0.001). A random sample of 204 stools was collected from the women and analysed for silica content as a tracer for earth-eating. The mean silica content was 2.1% of the dry weight of stool. Geophagous women had a higher mean silica content than the non-geophagous ones (3.1% vs. 1.4%, P < 0.001). Faecal silica and reported geophagy were strongly correlated (P < 0.001).
Divison of Vector-Borne Diseases, Ministry of Health, Kisumu, Kenya.
Alfred I
AI
Luoba
P Wenzel
PW
Geissler
Benson
B
Estambale
John H
JH
Ouma
Pascal
P
Magnussen
Dorkas
D
Alusala
Rosemary
R
Ayah
David
D
Mwaniki
Henrik
H
Friis
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya / Q000453:epidemiology; D007774:Lactation; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D010842:Pica / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis
D012987:Soil; D012822:Silicon Dioxide