Craving or Eating Non Food Items
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Try one of these related symptoms.
Eating disorder
Chewing ice
I want to eat charcoal
Pica
Eating weird objects (eg chalk or clay)
I want to eat my hair
I want to eat the soil
Consumed something unusual or unfamiliar
I want to eat chalk
I want to eat paper
I want to eat clay
About the Symptom
This refers to a compulsive and persistent desire and consumption of substances that aren't food or have no nutritional value or benefit.
When to See a Doctor
Seek professional care if you experience any of the following symptoms
- Craving or eating non food items
Possible Causes
Generally, Craving or eating non food items can be related to:
- Anemia
Anemia is a disorder where the body's tissues don't receive enough oxygen due to a lack of healthy red blood cells. There are several types of anemia with various causes, the most common being iron-deficiency anemia, which results from insufficient iron. Iron is needed to produce hemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that helps carry oxygen.
- Migraine
A type of headache that typically presents as throbbing, pulsating pain on one side of the head, sometimes with associated nausea or sensitivity to light and sound. Sometimes, sensory disturbances, such as vision changes (seeing flashing lights or zigzag lines), can occur before the headache. The pain may worsen on exposure to bright lights or loud noise. Triggers for migraine include stress, poor sleep, caffeine, and hormonal changes in women.
- Graves' Disease
A condition involving an overactive thyroid gland. It's a disorder where the immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland and causes an overproduction of thyroid hormone. It is more common in women than men. Some symptoms include anxiety, weight loss, tremors, changes in menstrual cycles, increase in bowel movements, fatigue, and palpitations.
- Hypothyroidism
Doctor's Diagnostic Questions
Your doctor may ask these questions to check for this symptom:
- Do you crave non-food items like soil, paper, or clay?
- Have you ever craved or eaten non-food items like dirt, paper, hair, ice, chalk, etc.?
- How long have you been craving or eating non-food items like dirt, paper, hair, ice, chalk, etc?
- How has the craving or consumption of non-food items changed since it began?
Reviewed By:
Unnati Patel, MD, MSc (Family Medicine)
Dr.Patel serves as Center Medical Director and a Primary Care Physician at Oak Street Health in Arizona. She graduated from the Zhejiang University School of Medicine prior to working in clinical research focused on preventive medicine at the University of Illinois and the University of Nevada. Dr. Patel earned her MSc in Global Health from Georgetown University, during which she worked with the WHO in Sierra Leone and Save the Children in Washington, D.C. She went on to complete her Family Medicine residency in Chicago at Norwegian American Hospital before completing a fellowship in Leadership in Value-based Care in conjunction with the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, where she earned her MBA. Dr. Patel’s interests include health tech and teaching medical students and she currently serves as Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Arizona School of Medicine.
Yoshinori Abe, MD (Internal Medicine)
Dr. Abe graduated from The University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 2015. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Longevity Medical Center. He co-founded Ubie, Inc. in May 2017, where he currently serves as CEO & product owner at Ubie. Since December 2019, he has been a member of the Special Committee for Activation of Research in Emergency AI of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. | | Dr. Abe has been elected in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Healthcare & Science category.
Content updated on Mar 26, 2025
Following the Medical Content Editorial Policy
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Link to full study:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.29.24312810v1References
Leung AKC, Hon KL. Pica: A Common Condition that is Commonly Missed - An Update Review. Curr Pediatr Rev. 2019;15(3):164-169. doi: 10.2174/1573396315666190313163530. PMID: 30868957.
http://www.eurekaselect.com/article/97302