Indian man consumes sand daily 'to stay fit'

In a bizarre occurrence, an Indian villager consumes about 500 grammes of sand daily to keep himself, what he likes to call, healthy and fit.

Ram Ikbal Choube from Jharkhand state has made eating an integral part of his daily diet. He has reportedly been continuing the practice for the past about 40 years, Gulf News reported.

Interestingly, not eating sand for a day means that Choube's stomach will get upset. The man keeps the sand in a plastic bag by his bedside.

"One day I rushed to the bank of a local river, picked up handful of sand and then consumed them out of extreme frustration. And it worked wonders! I soon experienced relief and in the next few days, I found my problem of upset stomach gone away," a delighted Choube told news reporters.

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"The sand doesn't taste good but it has kept me fit all these years," he added.

"My father looks restless without sand," Harishankar Choube told media. Medical experts didn't seem to have any different opinion when it came to analysing the man's bizarre habit.

"It's rare that a man eating sand for a long time doesn't experience any health complication but this case is really a miracle for me," a senior government health official Dr B Marandi said.