It's typically related to some kind of stress and/or anxiety. Similar to how babies mouth/chew on things to self-soothe, chewing is a calming mechanism that stays with us as we get older, more so for some people than for others.
It is best to resist the temptation of using your teeth to twist off bottle caps or chew on a pen cap when bored. Chewing plastic pen caps, hard items, or even ice can cause teeth fractures and grind down teeth, leaving behind worn-down bite edges.
Pica is the eating or craving of things that are not food. It can be a disorder in itself or medical phenomena. The ingested or craved substance may be biological, natural or manmade.
Eating plastic is a form of pica, the behavioural urge to eat non-edible materials. This can be dangerous if chunks of plastic are ingested, so this behaviour should not be encouraged. We have more details on the causes of cats eating plastic below. Take a look!
Pica syndrome is a condition that causes an appetite for objects with no nutritional benefits which can eventually be harmful or deadly due to issues in the intestines or due to poisoning.
The toxic chemical additives and pollutants found in plastics threaten human health on a global scale. Scientifically-proven health effects include causing cancer or changing hormone activity (known as endocrine disruption), which can lead to reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment.
Typically, individuals with pica will still eat normal food items as well. Pica isn't exclusive to autism spectrum disorder. It has also been seen in people with developmental disabilities, conditions such as schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder, and even in otherwise neurotypical pregnant women.
Pica may develop in conjunction with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Case studies show that the disorder has emerged in response to stressful circumstances, such as abandonment or divorce, and the eating of non-food substances may serve as a coping mechanism to relieve anxiety or intrusive thoughts.
Pica is not usually caused by:
The most common cause is sensory feedback (also called automatic reinforcement). These children eat non-food items to get a pleasurable or enjoyable feeling. Some children have difficulty telling food from non-food items. Some eat non-food items because they believe the items are food.
While the impact of ingesting plastics on human health is not yet fully understood, there is already some research that suggests it could be harmful. Studies show that chemicals added during the production of plastics can disrupt the endocrine system and the hormones that regulate our growth and development.
The disorder is more common in children, affecting 10% to 30% of young children ages 1 to 6. It can also occur in children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. On rare occasions, pregnant women crave strange, nonfood items.
Anxiety / Sensory: Mealtime can be stressful for some children. As a way to calm the sensory system during mealtime, a child may chew on a straw. This is problematic because plastic straws can have sharp edges after a child bites on them (which can cut their lips, tongue or gum line).
The No: If your child has a habit of chewing on straws, this could prove harmful to young teeth. Non-food items, whether they are fingernails, pencils, pacifiers, ice cubes or metal or plastic drinking straws can damage tooth enamel, change tooth alignment, and even chip or crack a tooth.
Here's what she says straw-play says about you: Chewers, about 33 percent of poll respondents, derive nourishment from words or emotions and are expressing a need for attention. Gentle munching, Hargrave says, indicates “blissful detachment,” while chomping may signal those dreaded unmet needs.
Although ADHD has been associated with comorbid eating disorders, especially bulimia nervosa,4 association with pica as in this case is limited to only case reports. Pica might be related to dopamine dysregulation.
Pica also is a condition that frequently affects individuals who live with developmental and intellectual disabilities, such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. Studies have found that 10 and 15% of people with these conditions show signs of pica.
Pica is the compulsive eating of non-nutritive substances. It is often associated with iron deficiency but its pathophysiology is unknown.
Although pica is seen in children, it is also a common eating disorder in patients who are intellectually impaired. In women, it is most often seen during pregnancy. In some parts of the world, the consumption of non-nutritive substances is culturally accepted.
Pica is most frequently observed during the second and third years of life and is considered developmentally inappropriate in children older than 18-24 months. Research suggests that pica occurs in 25–33% of young children and 20% of children seen in mental health clinics.
Although it is a compulsive behavior, most adults with a pica do not have a psychologic disorder. The pica is usually a manifestation of an underlying medical condition, most often iron deficiency anemia.
Some scientists have estimated the average person might eat 5 grams of microplastics in a week—about the weight of a credit card. Another study breaks that down to up to 52,000 particles annually from various food sources.
While there is no scientifically proven way to remove microplastics from your body, it it critical that we limit our exposure to help our bodies to heal naturally. Follow these steps to limit your exposure to microplastics: Prioritize a healthy, plastic-free diet. Transform your cooking space.
Shellfish. Of the consumables the University of Newcastle studied, Shellfish had one of the highest recorded plastic levels. This is consistent with previous studies (see here & here) that have found higher concentrations of microplastics in Shellfish than other foods.