Pica is the desire and eating of items that are not considered as food for more than a month.
- The material is often consumed in large quantities without taking into account the nutritional consequences.
- The term PICA comes from the Latin for 'magpie', a bird that gathers objects to satisfy its curiosity.
- Magpies are frequently seen with all sorts of items in their beaks, from chewing gum wrappers to wire hangers, which made people think of them as birds with a random appetite.
- By similarity, the human condition of desiring non-food items was given the name “pica” in the sixth century.
- The most commonly eaten objects are clay, dirt, sand, stones, gloves, plastic, erasers, pebbles, hair, faeces, lead, starch, fingernails, paint chips, coal, chalk, wood, plaster, light bulbs, needles, string, and burnt matches.
