This archive report was first published on 17 December 2019.
Published on December 17, 2019, a remarkable story emerged from India about an 80-year-old woman named Kusma Vati who has been eating sand and gravel for the last 65 years.
According to reports, Vati from Varanasi, India, first started eating sand at the age of 15 to ease an upset stomach. Since then, sand and gravel have become a regular part of her diet.
While many, including her grandchildren, question the potential side effects of this unusual diet on her overall health, Vati claims that it's the reason behind her good health and long life.
"I haven't seen a doctor," she said in a report by Yahoo News. "For as long as I can remember, I've felt perfectly fine. I feel as though the minerals in the sand give me the energy to work in the crop fields."
Interestingly, Vati gathers the sand and gravel, stores it in a clay pot, and allows it to dry completely before consuming it. When she's unable to get sand, she opts for stones from the walls of her house.
She chews the sand and gravel and attributes this to her strong teeth, which she claims can bite into the hardest stone.
