You thought you had weird cravings!

One our our local radio stations, Mix 94.1 have the number one morning show in Las Vegas, Mark and Mercedes in the morning. The show's co host, Mercedes recently gave birth to a beautiful little girl so that has caused a lot of pregnancy related show topics. One of my favorite was when they discussed pregnancy cravings and of course the strangest ones came up. When I say strange I am not talking pickles and ice cream, I am talking WEIRD!!

So here you go, here is a list of the top 10 strangest pregnancy cravings, this list is comprised from a survey that was conducted on Gurgle.com

1. Ice
2. Coal
3. Toothpaste
4. Sponges
5. Mud
6. Chalk
7. Laundry Soap
8. Matches
9. Starch
10. Rubber

Yes I know, people actually crave chalk and mud, are you serious! So I started doing some research and what I found is that its actually not that uncommon, it actually has a medical name, Pica.

Pica is the practice of craving substances with little or no nutritional value. Most pica cravings involve non-food substances such as dirt or chalk. The word pica is Latin for magpie which is a bird notorious for eating almost anything.

The reason that some women develop pica cravings during pregnancy is not known for certain. There is currently no identified cause; however, according to the Journal of American Dietetic Association there may be a connection to an iron deficiency.

Some speculate that pica cravings are the body's attempt to obtain vitamins or minerals that are missing through normal food consumption. Sometimes pica cravings may be related to an underlying physical or mental illness, see I bet you didn't know that weird pregnancy cravings are really because you are nuts! HAHA just kidding.

I know what you are thinking, isn't eating that kind of stuff bad for the baby? And the answer is yes it could be potentially harmful to both you and your baby because eating non-food substances may interfere with the nutrient absorption of healthy food substances and actually cause a deficiency. Pica cravings are also a concern because non-food items may contain toxic or parasitic ingredients. But don't panic if you do have pica like cravings remember it happens and is not abnormal. The most important thing is to inform your health care provider to make sure you have a complete understanding of the specific risks associated with your cravings.