{"title":"Pica.","authors":"A R Walker, B F Walker, F I Sookaria, R J Cannan","doi":"10.1177/146642409711700503","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pica is the compulsive eating of non-food substances over a sustained period of time. It remains an intriguing, little understood occurrence, with a potential for both positive and negative outcomes. In this review information is given on the history of the phenomenon, its prevalence among children and women, and its relation to iron and zinc deficiency. A number of examples of pica practice are reported from Africa.</p>","PeriodicalId":73989,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Society of Health","volume":"117 5","pages":"280-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1997-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/146642409711700503","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the Royal Society of Health","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/146642409711700503","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
Pica is the compulsive eating of non-food substances over a sustained period of time. It remains an intriguing, little understood occurrence, with a potential for both positive and negative outcomes. In this review information is given on the history of the phenomenon, its prevalence among children and women, and its relation to iron and zinc deficiency. A number of examples of pica practice are reported from Africa.