Odd Cravings, Appetite, Hunger, and Thirst

Cravings for food as appetite and hunger is a healthy reflex reaction to the body’s need for nutriment, just as thirst is the subjective physiological reaction to dehydration. Hypothalamic neuro-peptides released in response to nutritional demands affect brain circuits driving hunger. Unusual cravings for non-nutritive foods or uncontrollable desires for odd choices or combinations of food may manifest during different altered physiological states. Cissa or cittosis is a craving for strange unusual, sometimes unwholesome, foods often encountered during pregnancy. Pica is a depraved or perverted appetite with hunger for non-nutritive substances not fit for food. Pica and cissa may occur separately, simultaneously or asynchronously. This article appraises odd cravings occasioned by picca and cittosis, related physiology of thirst and hunger, some dysfunctions of these, and defines distinctions between physiological demands for nourishment and the discussed cravings.