Food Cravings

Meaning of Food Cravings depends on who you ask. Some healthcare practitioners and nutritionists opine that certain cravings may be meaningful. For example, cravings for ice and bizarre substances, cigarette butts and laundry starch have been linked to an iron deficiency, even though none of these items contain significant amounts of iron.

San Francisco midwife and herbalist Cindy Belew says that other food cravings may be worth paying attention to as well. For example, medicine practitioners believe that shortage of B vitamins can trigger a craving for chocolate. When patients of Belew start taking flax oil, their food craving disappear so they need more essential fatty acids in their diet. A craving for red meat appears due to lack of proteins.

"Some people think that their cravings are significant, but as per studies there is no link between cravings and nutritional requirements." Somer doesn't see much of link between a pregnant woman's cravings and the things her body needs. "If people craved what their body needs, we would eat more broccoli and less chocolate."