Obviously, children with pica have the potential to develop some lifethreatening gastro illnesses, but what's curiously interesting is that pica is a strong predictor for bulimia nervosa later in life. Why eating weird non-foods would translate to binge eating + compensatory mechanism is beyond me, but it's statistically significant. I could understand if it led to binge eating disorder (currently eating disorder NOS until DSM-V comes out), what with it being an impulse control issue, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

This guy liked to eat coins.
Here's a beauty, a giant trichobezoar being removed on operation of an 18 year old with pica. Not for the faint of heart.
wow, that bezoar is pretty disturbing
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