Pica (disorder)

Pica is an abnormal appetite for earth and other non-foods. The condition's name comes from the Latin word for the bird English-speakers call a magpie which is reputed to eat almost anything. Pica is common in small children, certain animals, and occasionally in pregnant women. In extreme forms it is regarded as a medical disorder.

Examples of pica are:

• geophagy (consumption of soil)
• mucophagy (consumption of mucus)
• trichophagia (consumption of hair or wool)
• coprophagia (consumption of excrement)
• amylophagia (consumption of starch)
• pagophagia (consumption of ice)
• xylophagia (consumption of wood toothpicks)
• coniophagia (consumption of dust from Venetian blinds)
• gooberphagia (pathological consumption of peanuts)
• acuphagia (ingestion of sharp objects)
• lithophagia (ingestion of stones)
• lead poisoning from the lead in the paint. In additon to posioning, there is also a much elevated risk of gastro-intestinal obstruction or perforation. This is also true of animals.