Pagophagia

The compulsive eating of ice that is a common symptom of a lack of iron is also a form of the disorder Pica

Pica

Pica may refer to:*Pica , in typesetting and document layout*Pica , abnormal appetite for earth and other non-foods*Pica , a genus of magpie*Pica Press, a publishing imprint*Pica, Chile, city in the Tarapacá Region of Chile...

, the ingestion of unusual foods or substances. More often Pagophagia is related to women who may be pregnant or people who have iron deficiency anemia

Iron deficiency anemia

Iron-deficiency anemia is a common anemia that occurs when iron loss occurs, and/or the dietary intake or absorption of iron is insufficient...

. Pagophagia is a complex behavioral phenomenal arising from the interplay of biochemical, hematological, psychological, and cultural factors.

Causes

Pagophagia is most commonly caused by iron deficiencies in the blood. Iron deficiency anemia is a condition characterized by the lack of iron in the blood stream which impedes the ability of the body to make normal red blood cells. It is unknown why people with iron deficiencies crave ice, although it is speculated that it may be to reduce the pain of the swelling of the tongue (Glossitis

Glossitis

Glossitis is inflammation of the tongue. It causes the tongue to swell and change color. Finger-like projections on the surface of the tongue may be lost, causing the tongue to appear smooth....

) that often be caused from an iron deficiency. Occasionally the excessive chewing of ice may also be because of emotional distress

Studies

1. A 21-year-old women had a severe desire to eat ice 2 years prior to the case study. She used to eat two to three trays of ice a day as well as two to three crushed bags of ice daily. This woman did not present any other symptoms other then a swollen, painful, and smooth tongue known as Glossitis. She was put on oral iron therapy for 3 months and within 2 weeks her symptoms dramatically improved, within 2 months ice consumption was gone altogether.

2. A 21-year-old female, during her first pregnancy started to have some craving of ice that was a sign of phagopagia that lasted through lactation. Her symptoms were intermittent between her Pregnancies, when she was pregnant for the second time her craving for ice increased dramatically signs of full-blown Pagophagia. Her blood work during her second pregnancy showed that she had severe hypochromic anemia, pale red blood cells. This woman received iron therapy for 3 months, after 1 month her craving for ice ceased entirely.

3. And eight year old boy with a known case of sickle cell anemia, over the four months prior to the case study he had been observed to have had a craving for ice water and ice. They found he had a rectal polyp where the child was losing blood through his stool. After surgically removing the polyp and a 3-month treatment of iron the young boys craving for ice completely stopped.

As we can see with these case studies, when the patients were treated with iron they stopped craving ice altogether, this result we can see that in most cases iron deficiency is the cause of Phagophagia.

Treatment

The most common treatment is oral iron therapy. Usually once treatment starts it will take a few months for the symptoms to completely go away.
Warning: if you think you have Phagophagia do not try and treat yourself by taking iron supplements. Be sure to consult with a doctor before starting any type of treatment.

Ethology

Most commonly pagophagia is seen within a population that is underdeveloped and has low socio economical conditions. Cultures in which the diet does not usually contain sufficient amounts of iron will show more signs of pagophagia. Some other factors that may lead to an increased occurrence of pagophagia are people with Sickle-cell disease

Sickle-cell disease

Sickle-cell disease , or sickle-cell anaemia or drepanocytosis, is an autosomal recessive genetic blood disorder with overdominance, characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape. Sickling decreases the cells' flexibility and results in a risk of various...

, a disease that is most often is present in decedents from sub-tropical and tropical area’s where malaria is or was common.