VIDEO. What is kaolin, this clay that young people eat on TikTok?

Kaolin is a trending clay on social networks and especially on TikTok, where many videographers film themselves eating it in blocks. “It is a crumbly white clay formed mainly of hydrated aluminum silicate. It is used in cosmetics, porcelain, in the glass and paper industry and in medicine.”, explains Stanislas Agbo, general practitioner. But what does this really represent for health?

“You can have relatively deep anemias”

This practice of eating clay is not recent, as explained by Olivier Spatzierer, head of the gastroenterology unit at the American Hospital in Paris. “In West Africa in particular, it is a well-known practice in traditional medicine for two reasons. First: a symbolic reason, that is to say that eating earth is eating the energy of this earth and, for example, women who have difficulty having children eat this earth. But it is also known for the more obvious therapeutic properties which are those of healing, whether on the digestive level or on the cutaneous level.”

The problem with this product is that it causes addiction in the consumer. Too much kaolin consumption is also dangerous for health. “When you take too much, it can lead to real plugs on the digestive plan and lead to occlusive and sub-occlusive syndromes, and finally, when it goes to line the entire wall of the digestive tract, you can have relatively deep anemias”, adds Olivier Spatzierer.