[Pica: pathogenesis and therapeutic approach].

Pica is one of eating disorders characterized by continuous or repeated ingestion of non-food materials or sometimes of a tremendous amount of specified food. Known risk factors for developing pica include iron deficiency anemia, malnutrition, mental disorders, pregnancy, psychiatric conflict, and social and ethnic habituation, although the mild pica tendency associated with mental disorders is excluded from the definition of pica according to the fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) by American Psychiatric Association. Pica is regarded as the common disorder than expected but commonly missed, and therefore is important to suspect of this disorder for its diagnosis when people with known risk factors show unexplained signs and symptoms.