Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov;83(5):1100-5.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.10-0370.

Plasma and urinary aluminum concentrations in severely anemic geophagous pregnant women in the Bas Maroni region of French Guiana: a case-control study

Veronique Lambert  1 , Rachida Boukhari, Mathieu Nacher, Jean-Pierre Goullé, Estelle Roudier, Wael Elguindi, Annie Laquerrière, Gabriel Carles
Affiliations

Plasma and urinary aluminum concentrations in severely anemic geophagous pregnant women in the Bas Maroni region of French Guiana: a case-control study

Veronique Lambert et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

The clays consumed by geophagous individuals contain large quantities of aluminum, a known neurological and hematological toxin. This is the first study to evaluate the risk of aluminum poisoning in geophagous individuals. Blind determinations of plasma and urinary aluminum concentrations were carried out in 98 anemic geophagous pregnant women and 85 non-anemic non-geophagous pregnant women. Aluminum concentrations were significantly higher (P < 0.0001) in the geophagous anemic women than in the controls, with odds ratios of 6.83 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.72-19.31) for plasma concentrations (13.92 ± 14.09 μg/L versus 4.95 ± 7.11 μg/L) and 5.44 (95% CI = 2.17-14.8) for urinary concentrations (92.83 ± 251.21 μg/L versus 12.11 ± 23 μg/L). The ingested clay is the most likely source of this overexposure to aluminum. If confirmed, the clinical consequences of this absorption for pregnant women and their offspring should be explored.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Box plot showing differences in aluminemia (left graph) and aluminuria (right graph) between the control and geophagy groups. The horizontal line within the boxes, the limits of the boxes, and the whiskers extending beyond the boxes represent the median, quartiles, and values below the first quartile and above the fourth quartile, respectively, excluding outliers.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Distribution of plasma aluminum concentration as a function of hemoglobin concentration in the control (left) and geophagy (right) groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hooda P, Henry J. In: Geophagia and human nutrition. Consuming the Inedible. First edition. Macclancy J, Henry J, Macbeth H, editors. London, UK: Berghahn Books; 2007. pp. 89–111.
    1. Horner RD, Lackey CJ, Kolasa K, Warren K. Pica practices of pregnant women. J Am Diet Assoc. 1991;1:34–38. - PubMed
    1. Halsted JA. Geophagia in man: its nature and nutritional effects. Am J Clin Nutr. 1968;21:1384–1393. - PubMed
    1. Okcuoglŭ A, Arcasoy A, Minnich V, Tarcon Y, Cin S, Yörükoğlu O, Demirag B, Renda F. Pica in Turkey. 1. The incidence and association with anemia. Am J Clin Nutr. 1966;19:125–131. - PubMed
    1. Geissler PW, Shulman CE, Prince RJ, Mutemi W, Mnazi C, Friis H, Lowe B. Geophagy, iron status and anaemia among pregnant women on the coast of Kenya. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1998;92:549–553. - PubMed

MeSH terms