Interesting culture eating clay from the disease of Indians

In the talk about clay, Amilcar Apaza reminisced about his childhood in Juliaca (Peru), a peaceful city in the highlands of Iceland .

The type of clay that Mr. Amilcar Apaza usually eats is known as Chaco in the local language of the Quechua people, or Pasa in the Aymara language, which are the two native Indian languages ​​here.

Amilcar remembers family meetings on his grandmother's fields, which are rural areas where potatoes are grown and harvested. On the estate, their family built a small stove that specializes in fresh potato cooking and tasted good, they also dipped the potatoes in a sauce that was strangely made of clay. , water and salt.

Now living in the capital Lima (Peru), Amilcar said: "The taste of the sauce is like a thick, very thick and salty cream." During the harvest of potatoes, clay sauce is often prepared by villagers everywhere in this plateau.

A Quechua woman is cooking in an open-air kitchen near the Sillustani archaeological site in Puno (Peru).

2,500 years of 'age'

Edible clay is harvested by indigenous people from a number of mineral mines in the highlands. The composition of clay essence depends on where the clay is mined, usually it is rich in certain minerals and is known under the name of Smectite Clay , a white clay used to remove grease and grease from clothing.

While there are many theories about the origin of eating clay, scientists now think it is an unusual culinary tradition that can contribute to some protection purpose. . The clay eating process of the people of the highlands of England was from pre-Colombo time (the period before the Americas were significantly influenced by Europe).

Scientists have found pieces of soil that appear to be an edible clay - as well as the clay minerals used in these areas today - in a tank that has been placed inside. a temple in Chiripa (Bolivia), and proposed the idea that the pot has been dated for at least 2500 years.

Peru's agronomist, Alberto Salas, said: 'The demand for clay has been around since our ancestors. The first settlers in the Andes ate clay to survive when wild potatoes were poisonous. Known as 'el padrino de la papa' ie 'Godfather Potato' , Mr. Salas traveled across the Andes Mountains for the past half century to collect wild potato species.

Mr. Salas hypothesized that the early settlers of the Indians might have imitated the clay-eating animals of Colorado forest parrots living in Southeast Peru or the behavior of clay animals of other animals. like Vicunas camel and Guanacos camel, are relatives of llamas.

A sauce of Chaco clay is made at the home of a resident in Puno (Peru).They eat potatoes embedded with this sauce during the potato harvest season.

Sharing the same wild potatoes with clay, unintentionally, reduces the toxicity of wild potatoes, making it easier for humans to digest food, said Alberto Salas.

Eating clay to . avoid poisoning?

Scientist Salas explains: 'The wild potato contains higher levels of Glycoalkaloids in field potatoes. Low levels of Glycoalkaloids can cause gastrointestinal problems, lower abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. But high levels of toxic substances cause victims to form more toxic symptoms such as paralysis and severe cases, they can die. "

Preliminary evidence suggests that the clay ingested from the highlands of Iceland can detoxify potatoes by absorbing toxic chemicals, according to Mr. Timothy Johns, professor of nutrition. nursing people at McGill University (Canada).

Professor Johns himself analyzed the binding properties of several Andes clay in the 1980s and discovered that when placing a test tube containing Tomatine (Glycoalkaloid toxin in tomatoes and similar to poison in potatoes), the negative clay particles adhere to the charge of toxic substances.

Recently a study published in 2012 discovered that a mineral found in clays in the Anglo-Highland plateau minimizes the presence of toxins found in tubers. potato.

Professor Timothy Johns thinks that the clay particles adhere to the toxin Glycoalkaloids in potatoes, they will remove the bitter taste and prevent poisoning when the poison enters the bloodstream. Professor Johns explains: 'If people eat chewing clay and potatoes at the same time, the detoxification process will proceed immediately. Clay particles and toxic substances will be excreted through the excretion line.

According to Professor Johns 'experience, potatoes are difficult to eat without clay, he explains: ' But the poison will not be enough to cause harm to the eaters if they merely eat a potato. It is true that eating lots of potatoes is toxic. ' The modern hybrid technology has now produced a variety of less toxic potatoes. But the early domesticated potatoes may still be toxic, like many wild potatoes, according to Professor Johns.

On the highlands of India, indigenous people grow potatoes as a valuable food source.

Agronomist Alberto Salas also agreed, adding: "Eating clay is definitely from the first era of potato domestication." In the first written document on clay and potatoes, the Spanish pastor-Bernabé Cobo, who arrived in Peru in 1599, wrote in the book 'Historia del Nuevo Mundo'. that the Peruvian people ate potatoes and root tubers with a form of clay sauce, 'they moisten the clay like we eat mustard'.

Mr. Marcelino Aranibar, an animal nutritionist and research vice president of Juliaca National University (Peru), said: 'Bitter potato varieties are still harvested in the highlands of Iceland. Especially in high altitude areas, these cold and frost resistant plants are still considered a valuable food source '.

Instead of detoxifying them with clay alone, Mr. Aranibar said that the bitter potatoes used to make Chuon, a natural dehydrated potato, are also a way to reduce the toxicity of potatoes. Processing Chuono is considered an ancient culinary practice of Indians, they have year-round potato warehouses.

Some Peruvian scientists think that the same format allows clay to adhere to potato toxins and they are considered an effective form of therapy. Across Peru, Chaco is now sold as a medicine to treat stomach diseases from indigestion to boils.

Animal nutritionist Marcelino Aranibar observed how the experimental mice recovered from inflammatory bowel disease after they were fed Chaco, although he did not study this in humans. Mr. Aranibar himself ate a kind of gray clay mixed with water at about every 2 days or daily.

Mr. Aranibar claimed that eating this clay helped him control his gastritis. Also according to Mr. Aranibar, the way clay food is now part of the regional culinary tradition. Mr. Aranibar concluded: 'There are many people in Peru-Bolivia plateau eating clay daily, they eat with potatoes to reduce bitterness. More importantly, it is a more customary thing to eat. "