Pica (Eating Non-Nutrient Foods)

Pica (/ˈpaɪkə/ PIE-kuh) is a psychological disorder characterized by an appetite for substances that are largely non-nutritive. The substance may be biological such as hair (trichophagia) or feces (coprophagia), natural such as ice (pagophagia) or dirt (geophagia), and otherwise chemical or manmade (as listed below).

 

Cluster Number:
Wiki Number: PW169
Diagnosis: Pica (Eating Non-Nutrient Foods)
US Patients:
World Patients:
Sex Ratio:
Age Onset: pregnant women, small children, people with developmental disabilities
Brain Area:
Symptoms: Eating non-nutritives such as heair, feces, ice, dirt, lead paint, starch or man-made items.
Progression: autistics or children with lower intelligence, dietary mineral deficiencies may be involved
Causes: fewer red cells or zinc than normal in the blood;obsessive-compulsive disorder or schizophrenia have also been proposed
Medications: if needed, treat for iron or other dietary deficiencies;
Therapies: Training and reinforcement on what are appropriate foods if user has normal intelligence.

Youtube Video:

Eat Chalk? Watch This!!!

Youtube Video:

Eating Disorder in Children

Amazon Book: Pica Eating (Kindle Only)

Click the book to link or order from Amazon.

Support Group: neda.org; 800-9311-2237

(National Eating Disorders Associations)

4 CURRENT ARTICLES
FROM PUBMED

The world-wide medical research
reports chosen for each diagnosis 

Clicking each title opens the
PubMed article’s summary-abstract.