Despite being the most common eating disorder among individuals with developmental disabilities and occurring in approximately 25% to 33% of children, there is still much to discover regarding pica. There has been little progress in discovering the causes of this disorder, and because of this, treating and even diagnosing pica can be difficult. In addition to this, pica can have health consequences ranging from mild to severe so, when combined with difficulty in treatment and a lack of innovative research, pica has the potential to be an extremely dangerous disorder. Pica is, for the most part, defined as the desire to consume non-nutritive substances. However, it can also cover an abnormal appetite for food ingredients and sometimes even the intake of substances of a non-nutritional nature. However, for this behavior to be considered pica, it must occur for a period of time equal to or greater than one month at an age when it would be considered developmentally inappropriate, i.e., greater than 18 to 24 months. Unfortunately, the causes of pica are not known, so it is virtually impossible to fully understand the disorder, but some hypotheses have been put forward as to why it occurs. One hypothesis is that it could be due to nutritional deficiencies. There is no hard evidence to prove this belief, but pica has been associated with a lack of iron, calcium, zinc, and other nutrients including vitamins C and D, so despite the lack of evidence, some believe the claim holds water. However, even if the cause is a mineral deficiency, most of the time the item that is ingested contains absolutely no trace of the mineral that their body is missing, so this behavior not only persists but can... middle of paper ... ...article/914765-overview2. Gavin, Mary L. “Pica.” January 2011.http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/pica.html3. “Pica Eating Disorders” http://www.eating-disorder.org/pica-eating-disorders.html4. Stewart, Kristen. “Pica – The Eating Disorder That's Not About Food.” May 10, 2010. http://www.everydayhealth.com/eating-disorders/pica-eating-disorder.aspx5. “4 Ways to Detect Pica Disorder” http://www.livestrong.com/article/11058-detect-pica-disorder/6. “Eating Disorders – Pica” http://www.peoples-health.com/pica.htm7. “Eating Disorders: Pica”. December 22, 2008. http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/main/eating-disorders-pica/8. "Pica eating disorder: what are the symptoms and behaviors of pica?" http://www.anorexia-reflections.com/pica-eating-disorder.html9. “Pica (disorder)”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_%28disorder%29