pagophagia

Pagophagia (from Greek: pagos, frost/ice, + phagō, to eat) is the compulsive consumption of ice or iced drinks. It is a form of the disorder known as pica, which in Latin refers to a magpie that eats everything indiscriminately. Pica's medical definition refers to the persistent consumption of nonnutritive substances, ice in this case, for over a period of at least one month. However, different studies have included alternative definitions for pagophagia, including "daily consumption of 2–11 full glasses of ice (480–2640 g)" or "the purposeful ingestion of at least one ordinary tray of ice daily for a period in excess of two months." It has been shown to be associated with iron-deficiency anemia and responsive to iron supplementation, leading some investigators to postulate that some forms of pica may be the result of nutritional deficiency.

Similarly, folk wisdom also maintained that pica reflected an appetite to compensate for nutritional deficiencies, such as low iron or zinc. In iron deficient pregnant women who experience symptoms of pagophagia, decreased cravings for ice have been observed after iron supplementation. Later research demonstrated that the substances ingested by those who have pica generally do not provide the mineral or nutrient in which people are deficient. In the long run, as people start consuming more nonfoods compulsively, pica can also cause additional nutritional deficiencies.