Why do you want to eat chalk: the reasons. Is it possible to eat chalk

The phenomenon, when a person wants to eat something unusual, is often found in everyday life. It can be ice, clay, paper or something else no less exotic. But the undoubted leader in changing food predilections is chalk. To see this, it's enough to look at the forums. "I eat chalk!", "I constantly think about it!" - these messages are very numerous, and they do not become smaller with time. Therefore, it is worthwhile to understand the causes of this phenomenon and whether it is harmless to the human body.

Why you want to eat chalk

What happens in the body if it signals an imbalance in such an unusual way? Doctors on the question of why you want to eat chalk, answer that in the first place, this may indicate a decrease in the level of hemoglobin. Iron deficiency anemia occurs for various reasons: unbalanced nutrition, surgical intervention, bleeding, taking certain medications, chronic diseases. Therefore, if a person says "I eat chalk," the first thing he needs to do is take a blood test that will help to identify a lack of iron in the blood. According to statistics of the World Health Organization, anemia affects about 2 billion people. This disease develops when there is a difference between the used organism and the iron that came with the food. Very often, if a similar problem arises, one diet will not be enough. Specially developed iron-containing preparations come to the rescue. Knowing this, a person who constantly wants to eat chalk, it is worth to visit a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.

Iron deficiency anemia leads to the fact that the human body becomes vulnerable to dangerous diseases. Therefore, one should not dismiss such an apparently harmless symptom as a desire to chew a piece of chalk.

What you should pay attention to

If a person can say about himself "I eat chalk", he should be alerted to other manifestations of iron deficiency anemia. Among them, pallor of the skin, weakness, rapid heartbeat, decreased immunity, brittle nails and hair, shortness of breath, unstable psycho-emotional background. Similar symptoms suggest that iron deficiency anemia is already of medium severity, and medical care can not be avoided.

A familiar stranger

In order to see whether it is possible to eat chalk and how safe it is for the body, it is necessary to understand what this substance is.

Chalk is a sedimentary rock of organic origin, one of the many limestone species. The basis of chalk is calcium carbonate (up to 98%), except for it, the composition of chalk includes a small amount of magnesium carbonate and metal oxides. Chalk is insoluble in water.

This mineral is widely used in agriculture, in the production of paper and metals, sugar, glass and chemical industries. He has a lot of useful properties, but, unfortunately, he will not affect the deficiency of iron in the blood in any way. Therefore, the question of whether it is possible to eat chalk with anemia, the answer lies in the expediency of this action, because eating calcium carbonate in no way contributes to the elimination of iron deficiency.

Other disorders in the body

In addition to anemia, there are still some deviations in the human body, which can lead to a change in taste preferences. Disturbances in the liver or thyroid gland cause calcium deficiency. If the body functions improperly, a person may have a desire to eat chalk. This is explained by the fact that calcium under such conditions is excreted from the body faster than it does with food.

Deficiency of vitamins can also serve as the reason why one wants to eat chalk. The human body absorbs calcium only with sufficient content of vitamins D, E and C. They control the absorption of this trace element, the level of its content in the blood and the flow of the mineral into the bone tissue and teeth. Therefore, even healthy people can experience an irresistible craving for eating chalk - so they compensate for the lack of calcium in the body.

During the bearing of the child

Well, who does not know about the lovely eccentricities of women during pregnancy. Perhaps, the desire to chew a piece of chalk - one of the most common. But is everything as harmless as it seems at first glance? If you want to eat chalk, what does it mean when you are pregnant?

Studies show that even in absolutely healthy women, in an "interesting" situation, symptoms of calcium deficiency appear in 17% of cases. This manifests itself in the form of muscle pains, the feeling of "crawling crawling," muscle cramps. And in cases of pregnancies complicated by concomitant diseases, this percentage reaches 50. Calcium deficiency can cause the development of serious diseases such as osteoporosis and osteomalacia. Chronic deficiency of this microelement can lead to a delay in the development of the fetus. Therefore, the expectant mother must receive the necessary amount of calcium, the norm of which is 1400-1500 mg per day.

How can one avoid the deficiency of this important trace element? It should be noted that the greatest amount is contained in calcium carbonate, and this is chalk. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning the unusual gustatory predilections to the obstetrician-gynecologist so that he can eliminate iron deficiency anemia with the help of laboratory tests.

What kind of chalk is there?

In order not to cause harm to the body, you need to eat only the "right" calcium carbonate. But in order to find it, it will take some effort. Neither in the pharmacy, nor in the supermarket, such a "product" is not for sale. Not suitable for office chalk, in which for strength is added gypsum and glue, and construction - in it, too, a lot of harmful additives. So which chalk can you eat? If a person can not do without such "delicacies", it is preferable to eat natural natural chalk extracted in quarries or extracted from the rock - it does not have harmful impurities. Being an environmentally friendly natural product, it will fill the deficiency of calcium in the body in a natural way. Such chalk can be purchased in online stores.

Negative consequences

A small piece of chalk is unlikely to cause significant harm to the body. But a large amount of regularly eaten mineral can cause calcium and calcium to be deposited in the kidneys and lungs. If taken uncontrolled for a long time, the mineral will accumulate in the pancreas, which can lead to the development of diabetes and pancreatitis. Disorders in the work of the cardiovascular system will not be long in coming after a few months of using chalk in large quantities. Kidney stones can also be formed because of the high calcium content. Therefore, before making a decision about whether it is possible to eat chalk, a person should know about the negative consequences of eating this product.

Adjusting the diet

Knowing why you want to eat chalk, you can correct the diet in such a way that if you do not reduce this desire to zero, then significantly weaken it. It is necessary to eat foods rich in calcium and iron. These include: liver, veal, pomegranate, milk, cheese, cottage cheese, sea fish, greens.