PEDIATRICS Vol. 47 No. 2 February 1971, pp. 473-474
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Letters to the Editor

Reginald S. Lourie M.D.1

1 Children's Hospital of D. C., Washington, D.C. 20009

Dr. Hans Neumann has written a most interesting and valuable article on the chewing habits of West African children.1 However, it is a sufficiently important contribution in its own merit without its being linked to the problem of pica. Dr. Neumann's definition of pica is in contradiction to the commonly accepted understanding of what this term means. He defines pica as "chewing nonedible materials with or without ingestion following." The definition of pica in standard dictionaries and in common usage indicates that this term is reserved for the actual eating of nonedible materials.