Believe it or not, eating paper has a history. In times of famine, people ground up paper to mix with flour. Desperate times, desperate measures—right?
Can you eat paper? Exploring the surprising facts | Food Readme
There’s also a condition called pica. It’s when you crave non-food items like chalk, dirt, or paper. If you find yourself really craving paper, like, every day? That might be a sign you’re low on iron or zinc.
Also, some cultures eat edible rice paper or wafer paper (like the stuff on communion wafers). That’s totally fine. That’s made from starch, not wood pulp. Go nuts. But that’s cheating.
What Actually Happens If You Eat Paper?
Okay, scenario: you ate a small sheet. Most likely? Nothing. You might feel a little bloated, like you ate a big helping of popcorn. No fireworks, no emergency room.
But if you eat a lot… that’s when things get spicy. It can form a bezoar (a gross hairball-like mass of paper) in your stomach. Yeah, that’s a real thing. You do not want that.
Plus, paper expands when it gets wet. Imagine a dry sponge in a full sink. Your stomach is that sink. Uncomfortable? Drastically.
