A soil ingestion pilot study of a population following a traditional lifestyle typical of rural or wilderness areas

► A mass balance soil ingestion study was conducted of an Aboriginal community. ► 4 tracers with the lowest food to soil ratio (Al, Si, La and Ce) were used to calculate soil ingestion. ► The mean soil ingestion rate was 75 mg d− 1, the median was 50 mg d− 1, and the 90th percentile was 211 mg d− 1. ► The soil ingestion rates are generally higher than previous studies of adults. ► Controlling the tracer intake from food improved the precision of the soil ingestion estimates.