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Pica is an appetite for non-nutritive substances like glue, faeces, soil, chalk, wood bark, or fabrics; Or an abnormal appetite for some things that may be considered foods, such as food ingredients like flour, starch or baking soda.
For a sufferer of Pica to resist eating the unusual substances he or she craves, is like a person who has smoked heavily all their lives to resist a cigarette- almost physically impossible.

The name of this rather strange condition comes from the Latin name for Magpie, a bird which is renowned for eating almost anything it can find.
For a person to be diagnosed with pica at a development stage where eating inedible objects is considered abnormal, symptoms must persist for a duration of over one month.
Pica, however can occur in people of all ages, especially in pregnant women and small children, particularly those with learning disabilities, for whom it is the most common eating disorder.
Research into the condition has proved that it is much more common in rural areas and developing countries where food is much less plentiful.
In extreme cases, Pica is considered a medical disorder rather than just a condition
and can be extremely dangerous to a person's health, especially in children who do not know better than to consume the substances they desire without a care. Serious damage to the brain and/or internal organs can also occur, for example if a suferrer suddenly decided to consume the liquid from inside a thermometer, which contains mercury, it could result in severe brain damage or even death.
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