Eating Dirt and Other Non- Food Items

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Pica is a disease which has the main trait of eating non-food products. Gerald Callahan (2013) wrote an article called “Eating Dirt” which discusses the immunological effects of the pica of eating dirt. There are various types of non-food items people consume that show abnormal behaviour. There are numerous health risks and issues with people eating food not intended to being eaten and in contrast there are also benefits to people from eating certain picas. There are multiple possibilities as to why people eat non-food items. In modern culture there are a variety of picas that are present.

A pica may be eaten in many different forms. Callahan (2013: 164) suggests the idea of eating dirt for children and even for people later in life as most foods have traces of dirt in it. He explains the trend of toddlers consuming dirt and in western cultures it being looked down on. People who consume large amounts of non-food items are often referred to as diseased or abnormal. To be labelled as diseased for eating dirt it is defined that you must consume more than 50 grams of dirt per day. The idea of non-food items being consumed as abnormal behaviour is expressed further by Sharma (2011: 2375) who explains the case of an elderly dementia patient eating her own feces and she was admitted to a hospital because it is an abnormal and possibly sickening action. This is a type of pica because the non-food item has no nutrition value and is considered very abnormal to eat. In most societies around the world eating feces is abnormal due to the health concerns behind it. Piazza (2002: 235) explains a variety of picas that mentally handicapped girls are consuming such as: car keys, rocks, sticks, rubber gloves, batteries, plastic, fabric, soap, fece...

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...tems are available to a person with pica then they will consume them unless trained not to. Pica disorder can be reduced because it is too much of a cost for a person with a pica disease to attempt to find a non-food item to eat.

In conclusion, society views the consumption of non-food items to be abnormal even if the item is dirt or a battery and the variety of items people with a pica disease can vary by that much. There are a multitude of diseases and illnesses that someone who eats non-food items on a regular basis can contract and many of them are life threatening. At the same time however it should not be as frowned upon for children to eat dirt due to the benefits it can provide them later in life with a stronger immune system. Pica diseases appear to be a combination of innate urges, psychological disorders and the social environment surrounding a person.

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