This book summarizes recent advances in medical geology research (past 10 years), highlighting successes and future directions. Africa's growing awareness of the link between geological factors and disease drives this rapid evolution. Despite increasing research, dedicated resources and mentors remain scarce.
Recent research focuses on the circulation of both beneficial and harmful elements in the environment and their entry into the food chain, impacting human health through complex metabolic processes. Understanding these processes, like metal metabolism, is crucial for elucidating disease aetiology, particularly for poorly understood conditions. Biogeochemical factors like bioavailability and dose-response relationships are also explored, demonstrating the multidisciplinary nature of medical geology and its role in clinical diagnosis.