![]() That’s why you shouldn’t freak out too much if little Johnny is chewing on a toy puppet right now: pica can’t be diagnosed in children under age two, and diagnosis specifically includes eating nonfood items rather than just exploring them with their mouth.Įating non-nutritive things for cultural or social reasons doesn’t count, either. It’s common in childhood, for example – but as anyone who’s spent time around little kids can tell you, sticking things in their mouths is pretty much par for the course in toddlerdom. It's important to be clear about who doesn’t have pica. “People engaging in pica often have highly specific preferences they are often very motivated in their attempts to obtain their chosen material.” “In this latter group pica is reported to be often more severe,” noted Shea. The other main group of people who most commonly experience pica are those with intellectual or neurological conditions – including people with autism, learning disabilities, or schizophrenia, among others. It crops up on the other side of childbirth, too, with up to one in three children below six showing signs of pica at some point. One 2020 study in Ghana found that nearly half of the pregnant women studied experienced some form of pica at some point. ![]() That said, there are some groups who seem to be more likely to be affected – it’s particularly common in pregnancy, for example. Pica is "reported across the world, and throughout history,” explained Shea, noting that there are "stories of people eating coal and earth documented as far back as Roman times.” Like almost every condition out there, pica can affect just about anybody. ![]() So, what, if anything, can we say about this compulsion? How dangerous is it, really? And what can we do about it if we find ourselves driven to scarf down a plateful of loose change? Who gets pica? ![]()
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