What happens if you eat paper towels

When Nelson went to her doctor to figure out what was going on, he diagnosed her with pica. Pica is the craving of non-nutritive items such as dirt, paint, or laundry detergent.

Many doctors link pica to an iron deficiency, which was the case for Nelson. Nelson had developed anemia because of fibroids that were growing on her uterus. The fibroids were causing excessively heavy menstrual bleeding and that blood loss had led to anemia. After Nelson went to her doctor, he told her to take iron supplements and her cravings began to subside. Once her uterine fibroids were removed, life went back to normal.

Women are at particular risk for iron deficiency because of their menstrual cycles said Jessica Shapiro, an associate wellness dietitian at Montefiore Health System.

Pica can also be common among pregnant women— by some estimates , a whopping 68 percent of pregnant women show symptoms of pica. Wood is primarily made up of cellulose and lignin. However, the lignin is mostly removed in the paper-making process. Cellulose is the fibrous part, and lignin is like an organic glue that helps hold it together. Lignin is a natural glue, which gives wood its brown color, but it is actually detrimental to the strength of paper. Removing lignin takes high-pressure washing and high-temperature cooking, along with the help of many different chemical reactions.

It is also bleached in multiple stages to make the wood pulp white. After this, the pulp is fed into machines to be flattened, dried, and cut. Paper could be used as a source of insoluble fiber, which helps move waste through our bowels. Other than that, it has no nutritional value but may be used to help you feel more full. As mentioned before, cellulose is used as a filler in foods, so in theory, you could mix small amounts of paper with something nutritious for survival. If you actually come to the point of eating paper for survival, you won't want to cook it but rather eat it very small amounts.

So paper could be considered better than nothing but should not be on the top of the list for survival foods. Paper is often consumed accidentally, but it is not considered normal to eat it on purpose. The craving to eat wood-based substances, or Xylophagia, is a subtype of the psychological eating disorder called Pica. Pica is a common eating disorder that involves cravings for all non-food items. This disorder can be dangerous as the non-food items consumed may contain harmful substances.

Yes, the bloomy rind is completely safe to eat and even keeps the inside safe from any potentially unwanted microorganisms during production. The rind on Brie not only protects and encases the cheese — it also adds a subtle, earthy flavor. As a rule of thumb, the natural rinds of most cheeses are edible.

Is cheese made from mold? Cheese is not mold nor is it the by-product of mold. Some cheese varieties like blue cheese have specific species of mold that are intentionally added during the cheesemaking process to enhance the flavor of texture. So long as the cheese coating in question was not made by man alone like the red wax on Gouda the rind is safe to eat.

Depending on your palate, you may find that a little rind complements the cheese and enhances its flavor. You may also find it too strong, bitter, moldy or textually unpleasant. Smoked Gouda is a bit nuttier tasting than the regular Gouda. As with all cheeses, be sure to enjoy it at room temperature and it will literally melt on your tongue.

For short periods of time, Parmigiano Reggiano can be kept at room temperature in stores without suffering any damage. Once purchased, it is advisable to store it in the refrigerator to keep all its aromatic characteristics and ensure an optimal preservation of the product.

Grating on salad or soup is just as great as grating onto pasta. After checking to make sure that she did not have any hard-to-detect bleeding in her intestinal tract, I prescribed an oral iron supplement and asked her to come back in two months.

I told her I was certain that this would cure both her deficiency and her paper craving. Alas, at our next meeting she told me she still had a penchant for paper, and a repeat iron test showed that she was still low in this vital mineral. She assured me that she had been taking the iron supplement.

Some conditions of malabsorption can lead to iron deficiency, but these are almost always associated with other symptoms, like diarrhea. Although my patient had never complained of intestinal problems, I decided to ask about her bowel habits.

Every day? I ordered new blood tests, and the results suggested that my patient had celiac disease, one of the most common causes of malabsorption. A biopsy of her small bowel confirmed the diagnosis. Celiac disease is a disorder that can crop up among people with a genetically influenced sensitivity to a protein found in wheat and related foods.

Other symptoms are cramps and diarrhea of varying severity. The treatment for celiac disease is to eliminate gluten, the offending protein, from the diet. That means avoiding all foods containing wheat, rye, and barley. Once gluten is no longer present in the diet, the gut heals itself and regains its ability to absorb nutrients. I told my patient of her diagnosis and explained that the problem was readily fixable.