Pica, an Eating Disorder

Nowadays, there are numerous eating disorders and pica is one of them. Pica is a type of disorder where the victim will start eating materials that aren’t actually food. The cause of this strange disorder is unknown, but it was first mentioned in a medical book in about 1563. There are a lot of conditions that will increase the chance of getting pica. These include : pregnancy, mental health conditions, dieting, food deprivation (often children in poverty) and also a few other conditions. Symptoms of pica victims include people who eat clay, dirt, hairballs, paint, chalk, toothpaste, glue, soap, sand etc. (non-food) for over a month. Result shows that pica is more popular among younger children than adults, with about age 1-6 year old children, there are 10% to about 32% of children who have pica. According to Kids Health, pica is also more popular in countries that are undeveloped, where people usually eat clay and dirt. This horrible eating disorder usually occurs in children and pregnant women, but sometimes appear among people with learning disabilities and people in psychiatric care or people with autism. According to Professor O’Brien from Northumberland University says that 1%-2% of people with learning disabilities, about 60% of people who suffer from autism and 25% of people in psychiatric care and also happens to have serious pica problems. Unfortunately, this eating disorder can happen to anyone from any nationality. He also explains that there are two different types of pica. The first one is non-food pica, which is about people who can eat anything, and the other is food pica where people eat edible things but at inappropriate times (like when they’re full). Mostly, pica occurs in Kenya, Africa, India, Australia, Canada etc. Uganda even allows people to purchase soil for eating! This horrible eating disorder has impacted upon our human society tremendously. Thanks to this eating disorder, it has caused a lot of cases of lead