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ABSTRACT
Consumption of edible clay has been a long term practice in the society. An eating disorder characterized by continuous intake of Substances which are of little or no nutritional benefits is known as pica. It is characterized by a craving for substances that are to a large extent, non-nutritive. Geophagia is a type of pica and it is the pica of pottery, clay, earth or dirt. The liver is the largest solid organ, the largest gland and one of the most vital organs that functions as a centre for metabolism of nutrients and excretion of waste metabolites. In this study 40 albino wistar rat weighing 150-250g were divided into group A and B. Each group was made of the control group and test group, the test group had low dose, medium dose, and high dose receiving 400 mg/kg, 800 mg/kg and 1600 mg/kg of edible clay suspension for a period of two weeks and four weeks (group A and B respectively). Blood sample was collected and taken for testing, the liver was harvested for histological analysis. All data was analyze using SPSS version 25 and p> 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results revealed significant (p<0.05) decrease in alkaline phosphatase level after 14 days and an increase in albumin level and alkaline phosphatase level, and a decrease in alanine transaminase level after 28 days. From the histology the result showed that there was an increase in the defence cells of the liver. This changes could be due to the presence of different toxic heavy metals in edible clay.
