South African Medical Journal
Journal / South African Medical Journal / Vol. 47 No. 8 (1973) / Articles

Published:

Apr 1, 2018

Issue

Vol. 47 No. 8 (1973)

Section

Articles

Copyright remains in the Author’s name. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Works License. Authors are required to complete and sign an Author Agreement form that outlines Author and Publisher rights and terms of publication. The Agreement form should be uploaded along with other submissions files and any submission will be considered incomplete without it [forthcoming].

Material submitted for publication in the SAMJ is accepted provided it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please inform the editorial team if the main findings of your paper have been presented at a conference and published in abstract form, to avoid copyright infringement. The SAMJ does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.

Previously published images

If an image/figure has been previously published, permission to reproduce or alter it must be obtained by the authors from the original publisher and the figure legend must give full credit to the original source. This credit should be accompanied by a letter indicating that permission to reproduce the image has been granted to the author/s. This letter should be uploaded as a supplementary file during submission.

Author Biographies

G Sayers

MRC Iron and Red Cell Metabolism Unit, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Hospital, Johannesburg

DA Lipschitz

MRC Iron and Red Cell Metabolism Unit, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Hospital, Johannesburg

M Sayers

MRC Iron and Red Cell Metabolism Unit, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Hospital, Johannesburg

HC Seftel

MRC Iron and Red Cell Metabolism Unit, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Hospital, Johannesburg

TH Bothwell

MRC Iron and Red Cell Metabolism Unit, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Hospital, Johannesburg

RW Charlton

MRC Iron and Red Cell Metabolism Unit, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Hospital, Johannesburg

G Sayers

DA Lipschitz

M Sayers

HC Seftel

TH Bothwell

RW Charlton

Abstract

On direct questioning by a Black staff nurse, 23% of 348 consecutive unselected adult outpatients attending the Johannesburg Non-European Hospital said that they regularly are earth or ash. The prevalence was higher in the women (33%) than in the men (11 %), and in 50 women with minor gynaecological complaints who were interviewed by a Black psychologist, it was 72%. The quantity eaten varied from an occasional tablespoonful to several handfuls a day. In an attempt to define the reasons for the habit a thematic apperception test was used. A strong association with pregnancy was identified, but the explanation for this was not established. Some subjects claimed that the material was eaten for medicinal purposes, while others merely liked the taste. The effect on iron nutrition appeared to be variable, depending on the ironbinding capacity of the soluble iron content of the material consumed.

S. Afr. Med. J., 48. 1655 (1974)

Journal Identifiers

eISSN: 2078-5135
print ISSN: 0256-9574