found: Web. 3(pica 2 -s : a craving for and eating of unnatural substances (as chalk, ashes, or bones) that occurs in nutritional deficiency states (as aphosphorosis) in man or animals or in hysteric or insane conditions in man : geophagy -- called also depraved appetite; geophagy: the practice of eating earthy substances (as clay) that is widespread among primitive or depressed peoples and is held to represent an attempt to supply elements lacking in a scanty or unbalanced diet; geophagia: geophagy)
found: The American heritage dict. of the English lang., via WWW, Nov. 21, 2006(pica 2. An abnormal craving or appetite for nonfood substances, such as dirt, paint, or clay)
found: MeSH browser, Nov. 21, 2006(Pica. Scope: The persistent eating of nonnutritive substances for a period of at least one month. UF Geophagia)
found: Dorland's medical dictionary, via WWW, Nov. 21, 2006(pica: compulsive eating of nonnutritive substances, such as ice (pagophagia), dirt (geophagia), gravel, flaking paint or plaster, clay, hair (trichophagia), or laundry starch (amylophagia). When seen during pregnancy it is called citta or cittosis. It also occurs in some patients with iron or zinc deficiencies. In children this syndrome, classified with the eating disorders in DSM-IV, is a rare mental disorder with onset typically in the second year of life; it usually remits in childhood but may persist into adolescence; geophagia: the habit of eating clay or earth, a form of pica)
