Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: kdlynn on 25/07/2007 03:44:55
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neil's veggie goodness question got me thinking... if we get nutrients from vegetables, and vegetables get nutrients from dirt... would we get more nutrition from eating dirt? also... can someone please rename this? i couldn't think of a better title
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Nutrition from dirt, perhaps????
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Firstly, there are some cases where we do gain some mineral value from dirt, and animals that have a mineral deficiency (e.g. a salt deficiency) may eat dirt that contains high levels of the mineral that they are deficit in.
More broadly, no animal is capable of obtaining very much of of their nutrition from soil - they simply lack the mechanisms for building amino acids, etc. from inorganic sources. Bacteria and plants are able to convert inorganic matter into proteins and sugars. Animals then eat these bacteria and plants that have converted the inorganic matter to proteins and sugars, and use them for themselves.
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I have been advised on many occasions and taught in my schooling, to watch the children in my care. Small children who are sadly malnourished often eat dirt. Just as animals, their body seeks out nutrients they are lacking also and many of these are found in the minerals in dirt!
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Some claim that ingesting soil bacteria has beneficial effects on digestion and the immune system.
Personally I would not deliberately consume soil, but have probably done so accidentally when eating raw vegetables.
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I think we all have one way or another. There are some things that have that very earthy taste for a reason! LOL
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My nan used to say "Eat a handful of dirt before you die". Having seen recent research results showing country children are healthier than town kids and have a lower incidence of asthma because they are more likely to ingest dirt, I now consider it to be more than just an old wives tale.
She didn't literally mean you should eat a handful of dirt, but, as an example, I remember that when she used to cook jacket potatoes she would just give them a quick scrub & leave some earth on the outside.
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Yep My Gran did the same, Carrots I pull rinse and eat, tops attached. LOL! Of corse when done diguard tops. I don't eat the root!
Raw turnips also!
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Raw turnips also!
Are you a goat? [???]
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Yep I must be.. Raw turnips Potatoes and rhubarb..YUMMMMM! LOL
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karen you said you don't eat the root... but i thought the part that we eat was the root... isn't the top the plant?
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karen you said you don't eat the root... but i thought the part that we eat was the root... isn't the top the plant?
I noticed that but decided to wait to see if anyone else spotted it [;D]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_%28disorder%29
If you want a more scientific title then you might want to go for "geophagia"; on the other hand, nobody would understand that.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_%28disorder%29
If you want a more scientific title then you might want to go for "geophagia"; on the other hand, nobody would understand that.
Don't be so disparaging! Some of us here know ancient Greek.
from geo "earth" & phagein "to eat." (although, to be uncharacteristically pedantic, the word could also be geotragia - which is what the Greeks call it now) [:P]
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karen you said you don't eat the root... but i thought the part that we eat was the root... isn't the top the plant?
Carrots have and additional root at the tip! I cut that off! same with turnips.. Yes they are considered root vegetables!
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hmmm... i did not know that. how strange.
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karen you said you don't eat the root... but i thought the part that we eat was the root... isn't the top the plant?
I noticed that but decided to wait to see if anyone else spotted it [;D]
Smart aleck!
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karen you said you don't eat the root... but i thought the part that we eat was the root... isn't the top the plant?
I noticed that but decided to wait to see if anyone else spotted it [;D]
Smart aleck!
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LOL LOL! Anyway whats a little protein and minerals eh??