Is it safe to eat raw maize flour?

Much as maize flour is a food that can be craved, it is usually taken when cooked. Therefore, taking it raw may have health ramifications, requiring one to stop taking it unless it is cooked. 

Raw maize flour may be contaminated with field bacteria, which cooking would have destroyed. Eating it raw may cause food poisoning apart from a likelihood of causing a disease condition called pellagra, which may result from a lack of a vitamin called niacin in the diet.

Raw maize flour has niacin but this may not be available to the body unless other methods, including cooking, are utilised to expose it for utilisation.

Pellagra may affect the skin, brain and intestines (dermatitis, dementia, and diarrhoea) but if not managed properly, it may lead to death.

Food cravings may have causes including children just putting any item which is food or not in their mouths because they are curious about anything around them.

Pregnant women may crave unripe mangoes or even non-food items such as soil which are thought to be because of pregnancy hormones (which increase the sense of smell and taste, creating both cravings and aversions) apart from nutrition deficiencies created by feeding more than one eating person.

Sometimes, however, adults, especially those who are stressed, or are sleep deprived or deprived of certain food nutrients, just like when dieting may get craves.

Your kind of craving, much as you may think is easy to stop, may require help from a doctor or counsellor so that you completely stop taking the flour without relapsing.

This of course requires first finding out the associated cause so that it can be dealt with decisively to stem the problem.