Have you ever eaten something you’re not supposed to either accidentally, out of curiosity, or for some other reason? Something that was not meant to be eaten at all? Believe it or not, eating things that are not meant to be eaten, which can also be called nonfoods, on a daily basis or because of an obsession has been diagnosed as an eating disorder called pica. The word pica in Latin translates into magpie. This term was most likely coined because of the bird’s peculiar eating behaviors. Magpies have no preference for foods and/or nonfoods, and would eat anything it found interesting. Humans however, are slightly more picky compared to a magpie, as they only crave one specific type of nonfood when they have pica. It isn’t stated when exactly pica was first recognized by the medical community as an illness, as by the 16th century to the 20th century it was still regarded as a symptom, instead of an individual disorder.
The exact cause of pica is not known, but there are a number of theories that might explain this kind of obsession and behaviour. Nutritional deficiencies like iron or zinc may trigger specific cravings, although the craved items generally do not make up for the lacking minerals. People who diet sometimes tries to calm their hunger by eating non-food items, which do not contain any carbohydrates, fiber, fat, or other important parts for a healthy diet, but still acquire a feeling of fullness. Children who live in poverty and are deprived from food will sometimes be so desperate for nutrition that they will start eating anything they find, like dirt and clay, which are most commonly found in poor areas. When in the process of pregnancy, some women may start craving foods, and every so often, nonfoods, but this is ...
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...for curing or preventing pica, and there is evidence that medications for behavioural problems in children can be helpful in treating pica. In severe cases, surgery will be required for those who have eaten metal or lead objects, to remove those items from the digestive tract before the materials have been absorbed into the body. These approaches to treating pica are not very effective, but a bit more research into the brain will certainly improve the current methods.
In conclusion, pica, just like all other disorders, may seem like no big deal in the beginning, but it will most likely be considered as an important issue in the near future. Just like all other disorders, all it takes is determination, time, and a course of action, and the human race will once again marvel the universe with its ability to overcome even the sneakiest and hardest to cure of diseases.
Binge Eating Disorder also known as Compulsive Eating Disorder, is a disorder in which a person uses food to deal with their stress and other negative emotions. A person affected from Binge Eating Disorder will secretly and compulsively overeat large amounts of food even if they were not hungry at all. During a Bingeing Episode, it could last several hours or all day, and can be reoccurring several times in one week. Often the foods that are consumed are “comfort foods” such as cookies, chips, candy, etc. Aside from the disorder there are its symptoms, who is affected, age of onset, causes, potential treatment methodology, and several resources for help. (Smith, Segal, and J. Segal; February 2014)
The authors explain that a “fear of fatness” and desire to be thin in order to appear normal in our society can cause anorexia nervosa, where a person purposely starves themselves, losing considerable weight. This is known as visual and behavioral deviation. Bulimic people binge eat and then force themselves to vomit. They usually don’t lose an alarming amount of
Omnivores are very interesting creatures. We are able to digest most plants and animals and therefore have a wide range of food available to us. However, when faced with new potential foods we are “torn between two conflicting emotions” (Pollan 288). These two emotions are neophilia and neophobia. Pollan defines neophilia as “a risky but necessary openness to new tastes” (288) and neophobia as “a sensible fear of ingesting anything new” (288). These two emotions are easily seen in humans, especially myself. Whenever I am introduced to a new food I immediately feel both of these. I am very tempted to try the new food since it might taste good, but on the other hand it may not taste good and may even give me a stomach-ache or food poisoning. The final decision when trying a new food usually depends on how it looks. In Rozin’s studies, he observed these two emotions in rats. The rats would nibble on the new food and wait to see if it affected them negatively, learning not to eat it if it hurt them. Pollan believed that Rozi...
Association, 2000) It is useful to study this disorder not only to learn to look for symptoms, but
Ben’s case, there is no cure and probably never will be. He was born with this disorder and he
The three most commonly known eating disorders of today are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Anorexia nervosa is a disease connected with abnormal eating; it is not brought on by excitement, delusions, overactivity or a bad habit, it is a mental illness. Development of anorexia usually starts in the early teenage years, however it can go undiagnosed for thirty to even forty plus years. Another eating disorder is bulimia, people who are bulimic have no time to think about daily life; all that is on there mind is their next meal. Someone who has bulimia often l...
(2015), diagnoses of Pica can "occur across gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, and geographic region." The difficulty with finding the prevalence of pica occurs because, in most cases, pica is explained when there has been a serious medical consequence (Delaney, Eddy, Hartmann, Becker, Murray, and Thomas, 2015). Approximately 25-45% of typically developing children and up to 80% of children who have a developmental delay report to have a feeding problem (Bryant-Waugh et al. 2010). Kahn and Tisman (2010) found that people with pica are often secretive with their habits due to the shaming brought on society for the
science has discovered a method of treatment that can stop all of these disorders before you are
Do you know there is a medically diagnosed disorder that affects over two American children?” Experts on the subject say there are many more undiscovered cases out there and the cause is still unknown. It sounds like we have a really big problem. The thing is, the disorder that affects all these children, isn’t a disorder at all.
Ward, Christie L. Compulsive Eating: The Struggle to Feed the Hunger Inside. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., New York, NY. 1998.
...Environmental Factors and Biochemistry Combine to Cause Eating Disorders." Healthy Place. Healthy Place, 2011. Web. 13 Oct 2011. .
Eating disorders are a group of conditions characterized by severe disturbances in eating behavior with either an extreme reduction or an extreme increase of food intake, which negatively affects the individual's mental and physical health. There are two main types of eating disorders – anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. There is a third category of eating disorders called “eating disorders not otherwise specified”. Binge eating disorder is categorized under this. Eating disorders mainly appear during adolescence and early adulthood and affect women and girls much more than males. Eating disorders are not self-inflicted diseases, but real illnesses with biological and psychological causes. They often co-exist with other disorders such as depression and substance abuse and can lead to a number of other health complications such as kidney failure, heart problems and even death.
More research into the hereditary components of dietary problems has entered in on neurochemistry. It has been demonstrated that the neurotransmitters neuroepinephrine and serotonin are extremely decreased in patients that are enduring with intense cases of bulimia and anorexia nervosa. These are the same neurotransmitters that functions adversely when people are battling with misery. This relationship has headed a few scientists to construe that there could be a connection between dietary issues and wretchedness. Notwithstanding making emotions of passionate and physical fulfillment, the neurotransmitter serotonin likewise is answerable for feelings of totality in the wake of consuming.
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.
Unhealthy eating habits can contribute to these consequences. One common unhealthy mannerism that many people don’t realize they have is the tendency to eat emotionally. If you don’t know what emotional eating is Adriaanse, Ridder, and Evers define it as “the tendency to over eat in response to negative emotions such as anxiety or irritability” (1). The reason many people can’t tell that they are emotional eaters is because when they’re upset they can’t tell their emotions apart from their hunger, and once they’re calm they can’t recall what they were feeling while upset, because of this it’s hard to connect emotional eating to food consumption (Adriaanse, Ridder, Evers 1-2). Most evidence about this eating habit is not only scarce but also subjective. When asking people if they emotionally eat some people might say that they emotionally eat often, but they might emotionally eat less than someone who said they rarely do (Adriaanse, Ridder, Evers 14.) Research on this is so subjective it’s hard to cater to a group of emotional eaters. If someone has a problem with eating emotionally the best thing for them is probably to learn to recognize the difference between hunger and emotion. Once they can differentiate between the two they will have a better chance of keeping the habit under control. Although emotional eating is a bad habit, there are s...