Pagophagy or pagophagia is eating of
ice
Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
.
The term has the two major usages:
*
pagophagia : an
eating disorder
An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that adversely affect a person's health, physical or mental health, mental health. These behaviors may include eating too much food or too little food. Types of eatin ...
, a particular case of
pica
* normal feeding behavior of some animals
The pagophagic disorder is among the unexplained
clinical signs of
iron deficiency anemia
Iron-deficiency anemia is anemia caused by a lack of iron. Anemia is defined as a decrease in the number of red blood cells or the amount of hemoglobin in the blood. When onset is slow, symptoms are often vague such as feeling tired, weak, sh ...
.
["Understanding Anemia", by Ed Uthman, Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1998, ]
p. 40
/ref>
See also
* List of abnormal behaviours in animals
References
{{reflist
Eating disorders
Water ice