The New Straits Times, January 29, 1996
Q: My child has an abnormal eating behaviour. He likes to eat no-food items, Is the behaviour dangerous.
A: Pica is a an abnormal craving for substances not considered food. Pica typically begins before the age of three (most often affects children between ages one and six), with the child exhibiting abnormal eating of non-nutritious or harmful substances such as grass, stones, clothing, starch, clay, ice, crayons, matches, soaps or paint chips.
The symptoms, apart form eating non-foods, are stomach pain, vomiting, failure to grow properly, and lack of emotion or interest.
The risk of pica rises if there is a family history of the condition, or the child suffers from poor nutrition, mental retardation, or anaemia.
Pica is a compulsive urge to consume strange, often dangerous, substances. For example, some children who suffer from pica eat paint chips, which can result in lead poisoning if the chips are from paints containing lead. Poisonous household cleaning fluids may also be consumed.
Such behaviour is dangerous because serious illness, such as brain damage, can result. In some cases it may be fatal.
