The pagophagy It is a disease that causes the sufferer to eat only ice, snow and frozen drinks. Although it is not very clear what causes it, there are actually multiple possible causes, it is considered one of the variants of Pica, an eating disorder that consists of the irresistible desire to eat non-nutritive substances. These range from chalk, dirt, and paper to glue, ash, or snow.
It is not an exclusive disease of humans, since it also manifests itself in animals such as horses and dogs. The most studied phenomenon occurs among monkeys. It seems that both among these and among humans the most common thing is to consume earth. Depending on the type of substance ingested, the disease takes a different name. For example trichophagia It consists of the ingestion of hair or wool. In the case at hand, as we have already mentioned, pagophagia consists of eating ice.
This was precisely the illness suffered by the Byzantine emperor Theophilus , which is the first documented and known case in history.
Theophilus, who lived between AD 813 and 842, died of dysentery. He reigned from 829 and was the second monarch of the Phrygian dynasty.
Now a study published in Acta Medico-Historica Adriatica indicates that the cause of his death could be connected to his pagophagia, which would have been a way to relieve gastrointestinal inflammation. However, today it is known that pagophagia can also be associated with some type of anemia. For this, they are based on the texts of Byzantine historians of the time, which describe in detail the emperor's ailment. According to these, Teófilo would have developed a pathological desire by the consumption of frozen water and snow.
Although Hippocrates had previously documented cases of Pica, he did not collect any specific cases of pagophagia, which is why the first known person to suffer from this disease in the world is the Emperor Theophilus.