this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] juli 88 points 6 days ago (2 children)

and that kids, is not how you treat iron deficiency.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

Fun fact: people in Brazil used to cook black beans with an iron nail inside the pot to threat anemia and iron deficiency. They removed the nail before eating, in case someone is wondering. Some people might still do it.

Another fun fact: I remember a research concluding that it's actually effective.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I guess it's similar to cooking in cast iron - it's effective, just not a be-all-end-all solution.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

I guess it’s similar to cooking in cast iron

It'd have to be unseasoned bast iron. The polymer seasoning resists coming off and contains very very little iron.

We put ferrous iron in cereal; most supplements use iron salts, though. The metal salts are generally FAR more available for the body to take up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

There are products available that are meant for exactly this purpose, without being nail-shaped. It emulates the effects of cooking in a cast iron vessel. Seems pretty neat.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Liver is an excellent source of iron, for the animic people

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Hmm, would you consider this an iron overdose instead?

Requires medical attention and all ;)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Metallic iron isn't very bioavailable

[–] [email protected] 83 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 58 points 6 days ago (2 children)

It's almost certainly an extreme case of Pica, accumulated over an extended period of time.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Either that or he was convinced he was some kind of magical guru godman, impressing people and gaining a following with 'impossible' feats that he can perform thanks to his spiritual enlightenment.

That's as common, if not more common than preachers in America that run prosperity gospel scams, or believe that they are modern day prophets, talking directly to or for God, or both.

EDIT: Ah, schizophrenic.

https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/west-bengal-man-swallows-nails-doctors-use-magnets-during-surgery-1078182-2017-11-01

The man was suffering from schizophrenia and had swallowed the nails over a period of time.

Anyone who claims they can talk to or for God, or believes they have magical superpowers is schizophrenic in my book, but if you're able to make money doing it, well then that's fine, because it doesn't harm your ability to participate in society and thus isn't a mental disorder.

Hooray for basing mental health conditions and healthcare on how they impact your economic productivity!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You can meet lots of gods on Discord if you know the cool servers.

[–] reinei 1 points 5 days ago

But all of those are so complex!

[–] [email protected] -5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)
[–] shalafi 29 points 5 days ago

Uh, that's what Pica is, eating stuff that's not food.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Yes, that's what people with Pica do.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Obviously you commented a refutation without understanding what they said, and didn't bother to type the word in Google, but I'm curious what you thought they said. Did you think they were saying they grew nails in their stomach or something? Obviously they ate them. How else would you think they could be there?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Pica is the medical term for eating things that aren't food. Nails, rocks, dirt.

Pica seems a reasonable assumption

The alternative is that he ate them as a performance, but he must have performed a lot

Is it necessary irony that a person saying someone doesn't know what they're doing will also show a knowledge deficient?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think you didn't see what I replied to. The comment, which is now gone, implied the person above said they didn't eat it.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago

The Human Claymore

[–] [email protected] 36 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I think last year I saw this story of someone going to an MRI with a buttplug which then "transformed into an anal railgun"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago

anal railgun

great trash metal band name

[–] Dasus 21 points 5 days ago

I think it waa more like "personal heater" I'm not sure.

But I remember seeing that yeah.

Oh no yeah you're right, "dragged through her body"

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/woman-has-sex-toy-dragged-through-body-during-mri-scan/news-story/d7ac723f64f339fbab031e6cbe4cbeef

Apparently she thought it was 100% silicone but it actually has a metal core. Even if the package on her toy had mentioned it (doubtful but probable) who reads those.

So she's not as big of an idiot as one could think.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Someone let the US Navy know they've cracked the system

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago

And I get an upset stomach if I eat too much cabbage.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

when I was a kid, I ate an L shaped nail.

it came out straight.

it had dissolved into a rusty spot the next day.

am I a superhuman? no, because apparently gluten is worse for me than nails...

[–] IzzyScissor 8 points 4 days ago

Did it really dissolve into rust, or did your parents secretly throw away your poop nail in the middle of the night?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I’d like to know more about the situation. Did he eat them all at once? Was it years of “I’ll bet you I can eat this nail”? Was it intended as some weird health thing?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago

He was trying to get past the bouncer at the Salty Spitoon

[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 days ago

Metal removing imaging

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 days ago (2 children)

An MRI would have been faster, just sayin

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 days ago

That's the joke

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I didn’t even see the second part till I read the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Shoot me either