a Department of Medical Sciences, Section of Pediatrics , University of Ferrara , Ferrara , Italy.
Expert Rev Hematol. 2016 Nov;9(11):1075-1080. doi: 10.1080/17474086.2016.1245136. Epub 2016 Oct 19.
Pica is the compulsive eating of non-nutritive substances. It is often associated with iron deficiency but its pathophysiology is unknown. Areas covered: We searched the literature using the keywords listed below. Our aim was to describe the phenomenon in its various aspects, to touch briefly on the historical and cultural background, and to examine in more detail the studies that tried to analyze the relative roles of iron deficiency and pica. Expert commentary: Pica is an intriguing symptom known for centuries. Pregnant women and preadolescents are at the highest risk of pica. Iron absorption is reduced in the presence of non-nutritive substances. Iron therapy usually cures the pica behavior. There are different forms of pica, one caused directly by iron deficiency probably due to the lack of iron in some areas of the brain and one more culturally driven and including mostly geophagy.
异食癖是指强迫性地摄入非营养物质。它通常与缺铁有关，但它的病理生理学机制尚不清楚。
我们使用以下关键词搜索文献。我们的目的是描述该现象的各个方面，简要探讨其历史和文化背景，并更详细地研究试图分析缺铁和异食癖相对作用的研究。
异食癖是一种由来已久的有趣症状。孕妇和青春期前儿童患异食癖的风险最高。非营养物质的存在会降低铁的吸收。铁治疗通常可以治愈异食癖行为。异食癖有不同的形式，一种可能是直接由缺铁引起的，原因可能是大脑某些区域缺乏铁，另一种则更多地受到文化驱动，包括大部分的食土癖。
