Life with geophagy: biochemical effects of calabash chalk on swiss albino rat

Abstract

“Geophagy”, a common practice of deliberate consumption of non-food nutritive clay which is mostly consumed by the pregnant women and children in some specific region of the world. During pregnancy some women feel special craving for consumption of this special type of pica. In Bangladesh, same kind of clay has been found in Sylhet by the name of “Calabash Chalk”. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of this clay on haemato-biochemical profile, lipid profile of female Albino Wister rats. The study was conducted for 70 days. There were one control and three treated groups of 24 female albino Wistar rats weighing 129-158g. The doses were 0.5ml, 1ml, 1.5ml of the clay throughout the experiment. No significant changes were observed in body weight gain among the groups. No significant change was observed in haematology test results except neutrophils (p = 0.0302) and lymphocytes (p = 0.008) in treated group having dose of 0.5ml. that interpret, chances of microbial infection. In biochemical test, only creatinine in treated group having dose of 0.5ml, 1.5ml (p = 0.008) and alkaline phosphatase in treated group 0.5ml (p = 0.005), showed significant differences compared to the control group. However, all other parameters of biochemical test including cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL levels recorded showed no significant differences. All the rats of treated groups were pregnant earlier than the control group. Therefore, this clay might have effect on ovulation of the biological system.