Tag: Sand cravings

The compulsive eating of non-food items, known as pica, is observed in up to 30% of young children. Often, the specific craving for sand or dirt, a form of pica known as geophagia, is associated with a mineral deficiency, most commonly iron or zinc. This behavior is the body's unusual and misguided attempt to seek nutrients it lacks, though ingesting sand is ineffective and can be dangerous.

Craving and compulsively eating non-food items like sand, a condition known as geophagia, is a form of the eating disorder pica, which can often be linked to an underlying nutritional deficiency such as iron. Discovering how to stop sand cravings requires identifying the root cause and addressing it with a holistic approach to diet and health.