Pica can only be diagnosed by a doctor based on the history and various other factors. Certain conditions can increase a person’s risk of getting this eating disorder. Some signs of a child who might have Pica include repetitive consumption of non-food items, despite efforts to restrict it, for a period of at least one month, the behavior is considered inappropriate for the child’s age or developmental stages, older then eighteen to twenty-four months old. Risks that may result in having pica are nutritional deficiencies, dieting, malnutrition, cultural factors, parental neglect, lack of supervision, food deprivation, developmental problems, mental health conditions, pregnancy (“Pica”).
There was a twenty-six year old man who had several foreign objects removed from the esophagus, a grass bezoar and a large poker chip in his body. Also, there was a thirty year old man who ingested a latex glove, and there was a non-verbal mentally retarded forty-six year old woman how had a history of pica and had a four day period of frequent vomiting (Kamal, Ihab, John Thompson, and Dana M.