geophagia

In some parts of the world, geophagia is a culturally sanctioned practice.

It even has its own medical epithet - geophagia.

In the southern United States in the 1800s, geophagia was a common practice among the slave population.

Lithophagia, the consumption of pebbles and rocks, is sometimes considered a subset of geophagia.

Other dangers associated with geophagia include damage to tooth enamel, the ingestion of a variety of bacteria, various forms of soil contamination, and intestinal obstruction.

Larger organisms may also consume soil (geophagia) and visit mineral licks to obtain limiting mineral nutrients they are unable to acquire through other components of their diet.

However since it may be an evolved natural mechanism to increase micronutrient levels this type of geophagia may not be accurately described as pica since it is not actually a diseased behaviour.