Pica also affects social functioning and family life. Gastrointestinal complications - abdominal pain and intestinal blockages.The eating behavior should be abnormal for the child’s age.Ī doctor will diagnose pica based on the person’s history, symptoms, and the type of items a person has been eating.Įating certain non-food items can have serious consequences.The eating behavior should not be a part of any culture’s norm.Continuous eating of non-food items for at least one month.The diagnosis of pica disorder depends on: In such situations, the underlying cause of pica may be due to iron deficiency in the body. In extreme cases, they tend to crave non-food items that can be risky. Pica disorder in adults is prevalent in pregnant women. Related: Rumination Syndrome: A Lesser-Known Eating Disorder When a child has moved beyond this developmental stage and grows older, but starts to eat non-food items once again, then this might be one of the signs of pica disorder. Hence, doctors do not diagnose pica in these cases. Some cases have shown that people develop pica as a coping mechanism against stressors such as trauma, family issues, parental deprivation, and pregnancy.Īs a normal childhood development process, children younger than two years old tend to attempt to put things in their mouths. However, pica is often associated with intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities like autism, and certain disorders such as schizophrenia and OCD. Consuming non-food items may satiate hunger or a way to correct the nutritional deficiency. Pica can result in anemia, dieting, and malnourishment. However, dirt-eating cannot be considered as an “abnormality” and a sign of pica, since some cultures believe dirt to have therapeutic potential. Physiological research shows that in some cases eating dirt or clay helps relieve nausea and remove toxins.
Yet, the non-food items craved do not supply these minerals. It triggers specific cravings for items that would replenish the low nutrient levels. Nutritional studies suggest that iron, zinc, or calcium deficiency alters the enzymes in the brain that regulate appetite. Simply put, it's a disorder when you eat weird things. It is specific to eating items that 'shouldn’t be eaten at all'. Pica also doesn’t include the consumption of food or drinks with either minimal or no nutritional value. Instead, they will eat these non-food items because they are hungry and need to survive. The interesting facts about pica are that people with this disorder avoid having meals. Pica is an eating disorder where you eat non-food items. “Pica” is derived from the Latin word for magpie, a bird known to eat anything and everything. Do you know someone who has a compulsive and continuous behavior of eating substances with no nutritional value such as - wool, paint flakes, paper, wood, hair, chalk, dirt, pebbles, soap, gum, ice, cigarette butts, or feces?
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