Polina Muzyka

Pica

Pica, a perversion of appetite, is the craving to eat something extraordinary and on the whole inedible. It was first referenced by Hippocrates. These non-nutritive substances may include chalk, toothpowder, coal, clay, sand, ice, raw dough, uncooked mince, groats and many other substances.

Consumption of snow is a ritual for devouring emptiness, an amusement beloved by children that all parents try to suppress in their offspring.

Frequently pica occurs among adults rather than children, developing among populations with low socio-economic status and living in conditions with aggravated stress factors.