Everyone knows what anorexia or bulimia is, but what about the names of other eating disorders? Here are the names of five that are downright odd but absolutely real:
1. Xylophagia: People suffering from this disorder eat wood. Yes, wood. They also eat wood-derived products such as paper or pencils or tree bark.
2. Trichophagia: Trichophagia is the compulsive consumption of hair -- usually one's own. People who suffer from this mental disease will often pluck so much hair off of their heads that they will have bald spots. This is also dangerous because hair can get caught in the gastrointestinal tract and remain there. In 2007, a young girl was found to have a ten-pound hairball in her stomach.
3. Hyalophagia: This term refers to the habit of eating glass. It is a pathological illness. It is also, for obvious reasons, the most dangerous of eating disorders as glass can cut into the stomach lining or anywhere else where it passes through the digestive tract.
4. Geophagy: Geophagy is the consumption of earth -- such as soil, clay, or even chalk. It can be a mental disorder but it has also been shown to be present in people with mineral deficiencies. This is actually one of the more "safer" disorders.
5. Anthrophagy: Simply put, this is cannibalism -- specifically the eating by humans of other humans. It can be a mental disease but not always so. Anthrophagy has also been a cultural institution throughout history in many tribes in Southeast Asia and South America.
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