Nzu addiction is not something to joke about because it is a silent killer, and a lot of people all over the world are beginning to search and find the article I wrote on how to break out of Nzu addiction and how Nzu affected my menstrual cycle and skin. With more health problems linked to it but little research, Nzu has emerged as one of the silent killers in Africa and around the world.
Please read carefully.
Firstly, I would like to say that most people draw conclusions about this topic from unexperimented and proven facts, which are based on some cultural beliefs that were never checked and have never been proven right.
Today, I will answer this question, which is one of the questions I get asked frequently. As a doctor, when analysing factors, you cannot leave out the contents. So, we will start by analysing the properties of Nzu.
Please keep in mind that Nzu is clay. So, what is clay?
Clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, such as kaolin, Al2Si2O5(OH)4) are found in fine-grained natural soil material called clay.
Clays become plastic when wet due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles, but they become hard, brittle, and non-plastic when dried or fired.
Although most pure clay minerals are white or light in colour, natural clays can have a wide range of colours due to impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from trace amounts of iron oxide.
Clay is the world's oldest ceramic material. Prehistoric humans discovered clay's useful properties and used it to make pottery. The first known writing medium was clay tablets, and some of the earliest pottery shards date back to around 14,000 BC. Clay (Nzu) is used in a wide range of modern industrial processes, including paper manufacturing, cement manufacturing, and chemical filtering. One-half to two-thirds of the world's population lives or works in buildings that use clay as a load-bearing structure, often baked into brick.
There are three types of clay: kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, and illite. Chlorite, vermiculite, talc, and pyrophyllite are also clay minerals. In these categories, there are about 30 different types of "pure" clays, but most "natural" clay deposits are a mix of these different types, as well as other weathered minerals. Rather than chemical or physical tests, X-ray diffraction is the most effective method for identifying clay minerals in clays.
What is the composition of clay?
Clay has high levels of iron, alkali metals, or alkaline earths. Aluminum hydrous-layer silicates, with magnesium and iron aluminosilicates present on occasion.
Heat, hydrogen gas, and the corresponding metal hydroxide are produced when alkali metals react with water. The heat generated by this reaction has the potential to ignite the hydrogen or the metal itself, resulting in a fire or explosion. The heavier alkali metals will react with water more violently.
Alkaline earth are di-valent cations. Calcium and magnesium are common in ground water caused by water percolating through deposits of calcium and magnesium-containing minerals such as limestone, chalk, and dolomite. Ref: here.Both internally and externally, aluminium silicate can cause an allergic reaction. The compound irritates the skin when applied as a powder.
While no studies on internal consumption have been conducted, it is safe to assume that eating this powder can cause gastrointestinal distress. Keep in mind that aluminium silicate is used to keep materials from burning. It is not something you want inside of you. If you consume it, you will almost certainly vomit or need to go to the bathroom. Under no circumstances should you consume the powder. Ref: Naturalpedia.
Clay minerals are primarily composed of silica, alumina or magnesia or both, and water, but iron substitutes for aluminium and magnesium to varying degrees, and significant amounts of potassium, sodium, and calcium are also present.
There are 6 types of clay minerals: (1) kaolin-serpentine (kaolinite, halloysite, lizardite, chrysotile), (2) pyrophyllite-talc, (3) mica (illite, glauconite, celadonite), (4) vermiculite, (5) smectite (montmorillonite, nontronite, saponite), (6) chlorite (sudoite, clinochlore. These groups' information and structural diagrams are provided here.
My skin and menstrual cycle were affected by Nzu, which is eating salted kaolin clay (geophagia). A lot of people reached out to me after reading the article I wrote on how nzu affected my skin and menstrual cycle and asked me how I was able to stop nzu addiction because they were also struggling, which is why I shared this article and I urge everyone to read it.
You will be surprised at the number of people struggling with this habit, and, sadly, no awareness is being created to help reduce clay addiction. For people who do not know what nzu is, it is an edible clay that is eaten by people from different parts of the world. I used to believe that nzu was mostly eaten in Nigeria, but this is not the case. In Nigeria, it is known by different names depending on the tribe, such as ndom in Efik/Ibibio and eko in Bini/Edo, and it is also known as calabash chalk. Generally, this is edible clay.
Let's dive into how to stop nzu addiction. Nzu addiction is very prevalent in Africa and other countries. In Nigeria, it is overlooked because nzu isn't categorized as a hard drug, and with the state of the country, a lot of health issues are overlooked.In this article we will focus on how to break out of nzu addiction, and in another article, I will talk about the harm nzu causes to your entire body. I'm being as honest as I can to give you a more imaginative insight into how it starts and how it can be stopped.
A lot of young men, girls, children, and pregnant women eat clay, and there has been research stating that clay is beneficial to your health, which isn't true. It's very contradictory in my opinion. I don't think this study was done right because it didn't state that the amount of nzu you take matters. It also didn't talk about how addictive nzu is, what its side effects are, or how it can harm your health.
Nzu addiction, or clay-eating addiction, for many Nigerians is inherited. For me, it started from going on errands to buy edible clay for my sister and also seeing them eating it. For most kids, it's their pregnant mum eating clay during pregnancy or seeing their mum and aunties, even uncles, eat clay. A lot of people saw people around them eating nzu and thought it was OK to do the same. This addiction also includes people with Pica, an eating disorder that causes them to eat things that don't have any nutritional value, like dirt, chalk, hair, paper, etc.Wondering what Nzu is? The English name is (Calabash chalk). It is a geophagic material popularly consumed in West African countries for pleasure, and by pregnant women as a cure for nausea.
Geophagia is the practice of eating the earth, including soil and chalk. This act can expose the consumer to toxic substances and parasites found in the ingested earth. #WIKI
1. Firstly, I started noticing some changes in my menstrual cycle, like heavy flow (I used an average of 13 sanitary pads in 2 days), menstrual pain, and acne. Before now, I had never experienced such changes.
2. Next, it was my skin; it got really dry and started to itch as a result. So I had to increase the amount of cream I applied, take more water, and eat more fruits to help my skin.
The reason is that without proper water consumption, our skin dries off because water is needed to moisturise it. Nzu is clay, and clay is thick, so much water is needed for its absorption in the body.
At this point, I understood what the cause of the problem was, but I couldn't stop because I was probably "addicted," or so to say, "an Nzu junkie."
I tried various skin products but they made the condition of my skin even worst. If you are following me on Instagram, you will be aware that I had a 6-day trip. I was planning to visit the dermatologist after I got back from this trip (which I will be sharing soon on the Blog). During my trip I maintained a healthy diet, I was so mindful of what I ate because I was trying to avoid having diarrhea. So indirectly my skin improved because I maintained a healthy diet.