TOP TEN BIZARRE EATING HABITS

10 ORTHOREXIA

 Characterized by the obsession with eating healthy foods, this disease can be confused with and/or diagnosed as anorexia, the main difference being the reasoning behind the eating habits. Anorexics are obsessed with losing weight, while orthorexics feel a need for healthy or “pure” foods. Orthorexia is not recognized by the DSM IV and in general will not be diagnosed, but it is seeing an increasing stronghold across the U.S.

 9 ANOREXIA

 Anorexia is self-starvation and is often associated with other bizarre habits such as drinking orange juice laced with cotton wool in order to give a false sense of satiety. This is a serious eating disorder that causes many deaths every year around the world.

 8 XYLOPHAGIA

 Xylophagia is the disorder in which a person eats wood. Sufferers will also eat wood-derived products like paper, pencils, and tree bark. It is not entirely uncommon in children where it can be a typical oral fixation.

 7 TRICHOPHAGIA

 Trichophagia is the compulsive consumption of hair—most often one’s own. Frequently a person with long hair will chew the ends while it is still attached to the head. This can be very dangerous, as hair will gather in the gastrointestinal tract. In 2007 an eighteen-year-old girl was found to have a ten-pound hairball in her stomach.

 6 HYALOPHAGIA

 Hyalophagia is glass eating. It is a pathological illness and is, for obvious reasons, extremely dangerous to humans as glass can cut the stomach, intestines, and throat as it passes through the body.

 5 UROPHAGIA

 Urophagia is the compulsive drinking of urine—your own or others. It is generally harmless as a healthy person’s urine is sterile, but there are always small risks involved due to infections in the genitals of the person whose urine is being consumed.

 4 GEOPHAGY

 Geophagy is the eating of earth—such as clay and chalk. It can often occur in a person with mineral deficiencies but it can be a mental disorder in healthy people. Scientists have mixed views on this practice, with some believing it harmless and others believing it dangerous.

 3 ANTHROPOPHAGY

 Anthropophagy is also known as cannibalism; it is the act of eating other members of the human race. Anthropophagy has been practiced throughout history in tribes in the Amazon Basin and South America.

 2 AUTOSARCOPHAGY

 This is the disorder of self-cannibalism. Sometimes it is a minor disorder, which is quite common—this normally manifests itself as skin nibbling. But sometimes it can be quite serious: On January 13, 2007, Danish artist Marco Evaristti hosted a dinner party for his most intimate friends. The main meal was agnolotti pasta, on which was topped a meatball made with the artist’s own fat, removed earlier in the year in a liposuction operation. Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes had hoped to engage in self-cannibalism before being cannibalized himself in the infamous recent German trial of his murderer, Armin Meiwes. This is an exact quote, taken from usenet, in which Brandes offered himself for consumption:

“I,m a male who really love’s the thought of being on the dinner table, my body is yours to cook anyway you want, i am for real my flesh is yours. fry me,broil me barbacue me i don,t care just as long as you enjoy your meal, i want to be your meal, its my calling an i’m ready. longpig!”

 1 COPROPHAGIA

 Coprophagia is the practice of consuming feces (poo); it is extremely uncommon in humans. It is generally thought to be the result of the paraphilia known as coprophilia, although it is only diagnosable in extreme cases where it disturbs one’s functioning. Consuming other people’s feces carries the risk of contracting diseases spread through fecal matter, such as hepatitis, hepatitis A, hepatitis E, pneumonia, and influenza. Vaccinations are generally recommended for those who engage in this practice.

Written by Jamie Frater in "The Ultimate Book of Top 10 Lists", Ulysses Press, USA, 2009, excepts chapter 10. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.