Excessive eating of non-nutritive substances is known as?

Ans. a (PICA). (Ref. O.P Ghai, 6th/pg.p 58)PICA# PICA is a disorder involving repeated or chronic ingestion of non-nutritive substances including plaster, charcoal, clay, wood, ashes and earth.# PICA after 2nd year of life needs to be investigated.# MR, lack of parental nurturing, autism, and behavior disorders like Kleine-Terin syndrome, family disorganization, low socioecomy.# Geophagia (earth eating) is seen with pregnancy.# Here patient develops craving for substance such as- Starch (amylophagia),- Ice (pagophagia) &- Clay (geophagia) these symptoms are peculiar i.e. Characteristic of iron deficiency.# Some of these materials such as starch & clay bind iron in the gastrointestinal tract, worsening the deficiency.# The basis of this bizarre behavior is unknown.# A particularly invidious consequence of iron deficiency, is increased by intestinal absorption of lead.# Children from impoverished families who often have both iron deficiency & pica are at greatest risk of developing lead poisoning.# The toxicity of lead is at least in part due to a disruption of hemesynthesis in neural tissue, a process abetted by iron deficiency.# Thus, these children are at increased risk of lead poisoning, iron deficiency anemia and parasitic infection.