Q: Dear Doctor, I have been a dirt clay addict for almost four years of my teen, could this mean I am likely to suffer from being infertile? Please help I want to stop.

A: Eating clay and other non-food items is referred to as pica consumption. Ingestion of clay is known as geophagia. Sometimes, this is associated with deficiencies of certain minerals or vitamins in the body, but some other times, you just can’t find anything that you can attribute the craving for. People eat clay for different reasons. Some claim to like the taste and the texture. More commonly, some pregnant women claim that it helps them to prevent the nausea and vomiting of early pregnancy.

Indeed, some new ‘regimens’ claim that clay has a detoxifying effect on the body when ingested. Well, I haven’t seen any evidence for this claim. There is however, evidence that some…