Normally you don’t want your kids to eat dirt. But some TikTokers have encouraged it … [+]
Will this latest TikTok trend make you soil yourself? Some TikTokers are now telling you to eat dirt. Yes, dirt, as in the stuff on the ground. Or better said: the land itself. They claim that eating dirt can have a variety of health benefits, such as improving gut health, preventing or reversing aging, reducing acne and wrinkles, and reducing body fat. There are even people – including those who call themselves “crunchers” – who will tell you how much they love eating dirt. But are such claims firmly grounded in, you know, scientific evidence? Um, not exactly.
For example, take a look at this video, posted by @stefanie_adler on TikTok:
As you can see, the video asked the question, “Do you want to improve your child’s (and your own) gut health” and then immediately answered its own question with “Eat dirt” before you could respond with anything else. So why go against what parents usually do, which is to prevent their children from eating dirt? Well, the video offered this reason: “[One] teaspoon of organic biodynamic soil contains more microorganisms than people on Earth.”
Okay, yes, dirt can contain many microorganisms. And yes, there is evidence of health benefits that come from having a more diverse population of microorganisms in your gut microbiome – you know, that city of bacteria and other microbes that live in your gut. Diversity is indeed a good thing in many aspects of nature and the world. Different bacteria can perform different functions in your gastrointestinal tract. There’s also evidence that the human microbiome has become less diverse over the years, possibly due to all the stuff we’ve put in our gastrointestinal tract, like preservatives and antibiotics.
But isn’t having a lot of microorganisms at the same time also the reason why you normally try not to eat dirt? It’s the whole reason why if someone dropped a burrito on the floor, rolled it into the ground, and then offered it to you, you wouldn’t immediately say “Thanks” or worry about a bad case of run or worse. It’s also why you wouldn’t dine with the host saying, “I ran out of plates, so I’m going to use these dirty flower pots instead.” Yes, soil can contain a lot of ickies, such as dangerous bacteria and parasites. In other words, the problem with eating dirt is: it’s gross.
Eating dirt is not the same as getting dirt or mud on your skin. Put something inside you … [+]
Some might then argue that you can just eat ‘cleaner’ dirt. And how do you find cleaner dirt? You can afford it, surprise, surprise. Yeah, when have you ever seen something promoted on social media actually sell? Just search for “edible dirt” on Amazon and Etsy and you’ll find plenty of oh-so-dirty products, like clay. These products can cost you a handful of dollars to over a hundred dollars. You didn’t think you could get dirt for free, did you?
The problem with so-called ‘edible dirt’ is that it is difficult to say how safe these products are to consume. The manufacturers do not always explain what type of tests were performed and what regulations they followed. Buying dirt to eat may not be quite the same as buying milk at the grocery store, which meets U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards.
Furthermore, many of these claims about the health benefits of dirt are a kind of distortion and expansion of the bits and pieces of scientific evidence that exist. The fact that it is better to have a more diverse microbiome and that dirt contains many different microorganisms does not necessarily mean that eating dirt is good for you. That would be a bit like saying that a good husband should ideally make you laugh and clowns should make you laugh, so therefore you should marry a clown.
Moreover, the fact that mud masks, mud baths and other similar applications of earth have been used on the body for years does not mean that you should put such things in your body. That would be like saying it’s okay to literally eat your shorts.
Ultimately, more studies are needed to test the safety and efficacy of eating dirt before the claims on social media are believed. In short, when someone makes such claims, deal with that person. Find out what their scientific and health background and qualifications are. Ask the person to show you studies in which people were fed dirt in controlled conditions and the results. If they can’t, maybe they’re just doing you dirty.