Medical professionals are also considering whether the minerals in some clays are particularly beneficial for pregnant women.

Well, dirt eating (geophagy) is a thing that people do as a way to absorb sulfur and phosphorous contained inside the soil.

Soil consumption (geophagy) has also been reported and likely helps with digestion, provides minerals and salts, and helps absorb toxins.

Geophagy as a general practice should not be adopted, but regulated use of healing clay can be very beneficial for your body.

Erica Gibson-Staneland, an anthropologist at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., has found that geophagy is more often found in cultures that do not consume dairy as a regular part of their diet.

The practice is common in sub-Saharan Africa, and many anthropologists believe geophagy was brought to the United States by African slaves.

Everywhere that geophagy has been recorded, it's passed down that there's a certain location where the dirt is tastier or they know it to be cleaner," Gibson-Staneland said.

In 1996, James Gilardi of the World Parrot Trust used the word “geophagy” or the practice of eating earth-like substances, and especially clay.

The yellow-tailed woolly monkeys are primarily frugivorous in nature and are one of the few animals that exhibit geophagy or the habit of eating soil.

Word of Caution: Geophagy as a general practice should not be adopted, but a regulated use of healing clay can be very beneficial for your body.

Erica Gibson-Staneland, an anthropologist at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., has found that geophagy is more often found in cultures that do not practice dairying.