|
|
 |
|
HealthState |
|
 |
Willie Lopez and Gladys Johnson had a lot in common. Both were overweight. They tired easily. They were short of breath. And they ate dirt. Johnson asked relatives to send her red Georgia clay in shoe boxes and they saw nothing unusual in her request. "Lots of people eat it back home," said Johnson, who now lives in Lawnside, New Jersey. Willie’s mother caught the three-year-old eating dirt in the yard behind their Somerdale home. Willie’s mom and Gladys Johnson didn’t know that craving unusual substances like dirt, clay, or ice cubes has a name — pica — or that pica is a striking indicator of iron deficiency anemia . . . |
|
|
      |
|
 All Writing Samples Copyright © 1998 Lois Seeligsohn |
|
