The Man Who Ate Everything in the Restaurant, Including Plates and Cutlery

Monsieur Mangetout Cleared the Table in a Paris Restaurant...completely!

Pica is an eating disorder where sufferers have a compulsion to eat things with no nutritional value. This can be things like wood, coal, metal, soil and chalk, anything in fact, that is not normally seen as a food item. Items as diverse as razor blades , keys and nails have been retrieved from the stomachs of sufferers.

They may also have an extreme appetite for things that are not normally eaten alone as food stuffs. Examples of this include raw potatoes, flour, sugar, large quantities of cooking oil, salt, vinegar and other common kitchen products that are usually added to food but not eaten by themselves.

The complaint can start at any age and it is quite common in pregnant women and in children with developmental problems. The word Pica comes from the Latin word Pica which means magpie. A magpie is a bird that will eat almost anything.

In children this can be a potentially dangerous complaint because they may eat lead paint flakes from furnishings, plaster from walls and many other substances. There is the ever present danger of poisoning . Children may also eat dirt and there is a high risk of disease here as well as the affects of lead and other contaminants in the soil.

Items like metal and stones can cause intestinal obstruction and end up being life threatening if corrective surgery is not performed very quickly.

However, if a child eats something it shouldn't't, or swallows a coin, key, etc. that does not necessarily indicate a case of pica. Medically speaking, if the behavior has repeated itself over a period of one month, there may be a problem. If you have a child who tends to eat things that are unsuitable keep a close eye out for a developing pattern. Usually this behavior in a child is a one off, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Similar behavior in adults can be a sign of mental disorder or severe stress. Medical advice should be sought. A female mental patient in Missouri had this condition and after her death it was discovered that she had 1,446 items in her stomach, including nails, screws, pins and even salt and pepper shakers.