Kaolin or « Kalaba »: good or bad for your health?

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Extract from the article: White, crumbly clay, called « kew » by the Senegalese, « iokpo » by the Ivorians, « kalaba » by the Togolese and « mabele » by the Congolese, is highly prized by women and young people. They eat it as they please. But this calcareous rock, which is a

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White, crumbly clay, called « kew » by the Senegalese, « iokpo » by the Ivorians, « kalaba » by the Togolese and « mabele » by the Congolese, is highly prized by women and young people. They eat it as they please. But this calcareous rock, which is also used as a beauty product for the skin, presents health hazards when ingested. 

Kaolin is a white clay composed of kaolinite and aluminum silicate. Eating clay is a type of geophagy, a pathological disorder involving the eating of earth. This practice is widespread in Africa. According to consumers, kaolin has physical and therapeutic virtues. « Clay has a preventive or curative action, to soothe and support the digestive system. It combats gastric acidity, pain and inflammation of the gastrointestinal sphere, bloating, flatulence and diarrhea », explains naturopath Amélie Mounier in an article dedicated to the benefits of clay on the "Journal Santé des femmes" media.

But « it absorbs everything in its path and neutralizes the active principles of what we ingest at the same time, which is why it's imperative to space out doses by at least 3 hours », she adds.

Kaolin: a health hazard

Kaolin reduces iron absorption, leading to deficiencies and anaemia. For this reason, it is not recommended for pregnant and breast-feeding women. Consuming kaolin exposes you to the risk of ingesting heavy metals, as this clay is extracted from the soil. In 2019, France's Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé (ANSM) recommended that clay-based medicines no longer be prescribed to children under 2 years of age « due to the possible presence of minute quantities of lead, even if the treatment is of short duration ».

Risk of addiction

Eating kaolin can be addictive. « For female consumers, since they're usually women, they say they use it to manage stress, to calm stomach upsets, for nausea, vomiting, especially in pregnant women, sometimes just for pleasure or as an appetite suppressant », explains Dr Stanislas Agbo, a general practitioner in Lomé.

Consumption of kaolin does far more harm than good. Excessive consumption is dangerous to health, both physically and mentally. It can lead to dependency. « When you take too much, it can cause real blockages in the digestive system, leading to occlusive and sub-occlusive syndromes, and finally, when it lines the entire wall of the digestive tract, you can have relatively profound anemia », concludes Olivier Spatzierer, Gastroenterologist at the American Hospital in Paris.

For psychiatrist Aïda Sylla, based at the Thiaroye hospital in Senegal, the main reason women use kaolin is to « relieve their boredom ». Many of them start using it during pregnancy. « The stone, which has no flavor, gives a pregnant woman, whose taste is perverted, a sought-after sensation of sand in the mouth», continues Aïda Sylla. « In others, there may be a kind of childhood mimicry. As with any compulsive eating behavior, kaolin acts like a drug, from a psychological point of view».

This is one of the effects of Pica syndrome, a behavioral disorder that induces the consumption of non-nutritive substances such as earth, paper or clay. This syndrome, the genesis of which combines nutritional and emotional deficiencies, has been particularly prevalent in West Africa for centuries. So kaolin is considered an appetite suppressant for some, a medicine or a pleasure for others.

Raymond DZAKPATA