ABSTRACT

Many things are likely to come to mind when people think about their health, such as an active exercise program, wise food choices, good medical care, and proper sanitation. Few people recognize the connection between soils and human health, even though they are actually very important to health. Soils inuence health through the nutrients taken up by plants and the animals that eat those plants, nutrients that are needed for adequate nutrition for growth and development. Soils can also harm human health in three major ways: (i) toxic levels of substances or disease-causing organisms may enter the human food chain from the soil, (ii) humans can encounter pathogenic organisms through direct contact with the soil or inhaling dust from the soil, and (iii) degraded soils produce nutrient-decient foods, leading to malnutrition. Therefore, soils form an integral link in the holistic view of human health. In this book, soils and their inuence on human health are viewed from a

2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................29 2.2 Concept of Human Health ......................................................................................................30 2.3 Promotion of Human Health through Soils ............................................................................30