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? “There are currently no evidence-based treatments for pica and research into this area, particularly with autistic people, is limited and inconclusive.” “We do not, as yet, know why people engage in pica,” Shea noted. What exactly causes it, and whether there’s one specific best way to treat it, we simply don’t have enough information to answer. The problem is, we don’t really know all that much more than that about the condition. People with the condition can have very specific preferences, eating things like cloth, paper, chalk and paint, plants and plant material like pinecones, coins, soap, burned matches, dirt, and even poop. The things that those with pica find themselves chowing down on range from the seemingly non-problematic – ice, for example, is a common craving, particularly among pregnant people – to the seriously worrying. “Pica can be compulsive, very dangerous and preventing it can also be very difficult.” “Pica as a medical term refers to the persistent eating of non-nutritive, or non-food, items,” she wrote.
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